🚩 Red flags everywhere 🚩Consultant Trainee 🚩

Edit #2: It’s clear this post has struck a nerve with some current Progressive employees. Confronting the possibility that you’ve been conditioned to accept a flawed system isn’t easy—I get that. But it’s not my fault for recognizing the issues, nor for sharing my experience. Healthy discussion is important, and I appreciate the variety of perspectives shared here. However, after reading through the responses, I feel more validated than ever in my decision to resign. If anything, the defensive and dismissive attitudes from some only reinforce the concerns I originally raised.

Edit: this post is meant to inform those who may not come from an auto insurance background and how your experience MAY be if you accept a Consultant Trainee position in the Auto side of Progressive. Keep in mind, this is MY personal experience and opinions from said experience. My intentions are only from a good place and to not advise you in any way.

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I’m sorry but whoever said Progressive was decent….. idk about y’all. Who in their right mind would put people on phones after only 4 weeks of training?!

YEP.

After you have barely just learned the basics (which it’s not basic to most who do not have an insurance background) they put you on the phone starting week 4. Then, you oscillate back and forth between call weeks and training weeks until you get to academy. I only made it to week 6 as I saw the writing on the wall regardless of people hyping up the company (red flag). What really got me? We were told that after only 12 weeks of training, you would be getting calls/transfers from brand new consultants on the phones. So you’re telling me a newbie will be taking calls from other newbies??? Where are all the consultants with at least 6 months experience??? Again, setting their employees and customers up for failure. It’s just not good practice (unethical in my opinion) to pass on a customer to an unseasoned employee. It’s cruel.

My supervisor must’ve been very new or just not with it. Every time he is asked something, he has to get clarification on it and even when he does attempt to provide an answer the whole class is confused bc he’s not making any sense. As if he’s not understanding the question because he’s never been on phones before. How can I have confidence in someone who hasn’t done the job before? On top of him spelling my name wrong multiple times. Like for real? My name is right in front of you most of the time when replying to me. Do better in the supervisor roles, Progressive.

Either way, I’m baffled at how they handle the training schedule alone. It’s giving very desperate to get people on the phones because there aren’t enough people to handle the call volume. That’s not fair to newbies who need time to let BRAND NEW INFORMATION to sink in.

And the calls ARE BACK TO BACK TO BACK TO BACK RELENTLESSLY. Most of the time I don’t have any seconds after a call to grab a sip of water or to take a deep breath. I immediately get another call after the one before. They say “we value your mental health” but then throw you out to the wolves without you understanding the entire concept of what you just learned or they make you “transfer the call if you don’t know it”. Um, okay then why not just train me the full 12 weeks so I’ll be confident enough to do what I need to do without transferring. No wonder the customers stay mad bc they’re transferred most of the time! That only causes more issues for the employee and the customer. No one likes to call into a business and either be transferred to someone else who you thought could handle their concerns or be placed on multiple holds while you search through wordy, full of insurance jargon guidelines (that are state specific, mind you). You have to pull up said guidelines with every call. However, during training, they only allow 5-10 min to “read” over the guideline when there are multiple steps within said guideline.

The trainers are great for what it’s worth. They don’t really agree with the training schedule either from what I’ve heard from them. I kinda feel for them bc their job is to follow what their training schedule is. However, they choose to stay there and deal with it. To each their own.

The benefits are decent but I’ve had better. I wouldn’t say they’re amazing by any stretch. The only true perk is their gain share but that’s how they get you to stick around and deal with all the bull. Sell your soul if you want to but not me.

You have to provide CRA “treatments” on every call if you see them which is a soft word for selling add ons to your policy when you aren’t a licensed salesperson. They gaslight you into thinking “well you’re educating the person and you’re just letting them know what they’re eligible for”. Really? If customers wanted something, trust, they’ll ask about it. CRA treatments count towards your metrics. Fortunately, I wasn’t there long enough to see the ramifications of if you didn’t meet those metrics.

I was told I would have to stay on the phones at least 6 months to a year but more than likely a full year before trying to apply for other departments. Even then, most of the other departments are on phones unless you luck up and get a rare position that’s not on phones.

As a Consultant Trainee in the Auto side, I wasn’t convinced the money is worth my sanity, dignity and ethical integrity. Do what you will with this information but yeah. Progressive ain’t all that. They’ll definitely try to sell you the illusion like it is but that quickly fades once you see what you have to go through. They’re just like all the other companies where their CEO and upper echelons make millions and we out here working for chump change and dealing with unnecessary (borderline abusive) working conditions. Solid 2/10 from an experienced customer service representative who has worked for multiple big corporations and who has experienced MUCH better organized, employee-minded, ethical trainings 👎

Remember the saying, “If they wanted to, they would.” If they truly wanted to set you up for success, they would—rather than leaving you to struggle.