Working at Travelers Insurance — Reviews by Employees

With every day that passes, things get better. I am paid well, respected, have good benefits and job security. Work/life balance is what you can expect from most big companies... more work than there are hours in a day. There is good career potential with Travelers. The office location is crappy, but I am surrounded by competent coworkers. The work environment would be better if people would stop complaining, but there is always a group of whiners in every crowd.

I know I will be attacked for posting positive ratings, but desperate people sometimes do desperate things. I'm ready for another round of Kool-Aid! It takes a whole lot better than the piss and vinegar that the other people are drinking. Bring it on.

The majority of comments on this board are from people in Claims. Apologists for Travelers will say that the issues raised here are isolated to one area of the company, and that management in its infinite wisdom will likely make everything well. Or they will blame you as lazy and incompetent. The abuses described on this site permeate the company. If you are in operations, support, underwriting, IT, finance, tell your story. If you have been denied a salary increase that you earned, tell your story. If you have been handed a performance review filled with inaccuracies and falsehoods, tell your story. If you have so called leaders who hide in their offices and only come out to promulgate the latest slogans or buzzwords, tell your story. If your job was shipped overseas, tell your story. Follow the site guidelines. No names. Keep to your facts.

I still have nightmares about working for this company! My direct supervisor was good, but if you weren't lucky to work for her you were in for a hard road. Let's just say after 10 + years and many prescriptions for anti-depressants and panic pills it was time to find a new place to grow and learn. It was sad to leave the friends and co-workers (because without them it would have been much worse). I still have friends that work there, and most of them are miserable. The workloads are just horrible. People leave and get fired and they don't get replaced. Managers are constantly in meetings and it's never known what they talk about or the direction or goals...just lots of upper management meetings. I know personally of events that took place where claim notes were changed so that home office reviews would be positive. Months were spent changing notes and "doctoring" files. It was depressing and very negative to work there and there was no light at the end of the tunnel. It became increasingly more difficult to meet the expectations. Good-bye forever.

This is a company that expects its front line workers to give a 110%. Unfortunately no one can ever give a 110%. You have to realize a passing grade in TRV metrics world is 90%. If you make the decision to work on the front lines at Travelers, you can expect your health and relationships to suffer big time attempting to achieve the impossible.

Excellent company to work for!!!

You and your EMT appear to barely put in a 40 hour work week, while your staff routinely works 50 to 70 hours just to keep their heads above the water. You talk about cutting expenses, yet show up at the office in a rented Chevy Suburban or Cadillac. You quiz us on where you went to college and how many times you’ve moved, yet you never try to learn anything about us. You brag about your new house, fancy neighborhood with your Orlando Magic Basketball player neighbor, while most of us haven’t seen a raise or bonus in over 2 years. You tell us that you’re a people person, yet sit in your office with the door closed for hours at a time. You push people out of positions because of being over staffed, yet post the same job 2 months later. You have turned a once great company, with a history of success into a company of losers. You act frustrated with our lack of improvement, yet refuse to talk about the 100000 pound elephant in the room. You have neglected us for years and now we are asked to believe that you have our best interest at heart. Your poor leadership, ridiculous expectations and lack of caring is causing multiple health issues around the office. You ask us to recite the root causes of our “problems” yet refuse to take any responsibility. The lack of leadership you exhibit is a disappointment. Some previous Home Office predecessors were true leaders. They would be mortified if they knew what has been have done to tarnish the good name and reputation of our company. You allow people that were failures to be in charge of our quality. You continue to allow them to second guess every aspect of our claim handling. People that should have been fired years ago for incompetence are now sitting in judgment of us. You all must have been abused as children because nobody with a normal upbringing would treat people the way you do. How does it make you feel that you can’t hire anybody without sending them up to home office to run the gauntlet? You can’t be trusted…and you trust nobody… and we insure people’s lives. You tell us that there are no “Eagles” working for you. You’re right, we are human beings and we are at our breaking point. How many good people have to flee this place before you improve our working conditions? You will punish us for low customer service scores, while not really listening to what they are saying. There is a reason why we score so low in the J.D. Powers rakings. You have thousands of miserable employees trying their best to service our customers. Unhappy employees equal unhappy customers. Fly Southwest someday, you’ll understand the concept. Sorry, no first class though. Thank God that the economy is beginning to turn, because I am at the end of my rope. I am broken…you win. Or did you?

See if you all work as a “TEAM” then you will accomplish your GOAL! The WAR has never be won by one single person………it has taken a group of people to fight and win!

Look at the wonderful posting below that goes in favor of the employee!

Warrior Princess — Jun. 16, 2010
What Travelers needs is Local 2, Office and Professional Employees International Union. The telephone number is 866-673-4852. Their mailing address is Local 2 OPEIU, 8555 16th Street, Suite 550, Silver Spring, MD. 20910. It just takes one to make it work. ONE employee can pick up the phone and call the guy from Local 2. They did it over at Progressive. Why? It's better to light a single candle than to sit and curse the darkness.

For more than 65 years, the Office& Professional Employees International Union has been a proven leader within the labor movement, representing office clerical and professional employees within a varieties of industries. OPEIU represents more than 125,000 members in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. OPEIU represents employees and independent contractors in banking and credit unions, insurance, higher education, shipping, hospitals, medical clinic, utilities, transportation, hotels, administrative office and more.
Professional organizations and Guilds affiliated with OPEIU are a diverse group that includes nurses, pharmacists, optometrists, chiropractors, appraises, podiatrists, clinical social workers, hypnotists, teachers and helicopter pilots.- photos Hugo Lopez


Everyone is watching this company closely! NYS Insurance Department
For immediate release – issued: 11/04/08

NYS Insurance Dept takes disciplinary actions against companies, agents, brokers & adjusters. The Travelers Indemnity Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company of CT, The Travelers Indemnity Company of America, The Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company, Travelers Casualty & Surety Company of America.

Penalty: $50,000.00 FINE (it should have been MORE!)

Respondents paid commissions to an unlicensed insurance agency on approximately 110 policies. This is public information everybody. Talk about FRAUD!!

Well let see. Where should i begin this horrible story of Travelers Insurance Company in Meliville Long Island.
I have a very dear friend who works in a specific section of the claims dept. The person is miserable and so are all of her employee's with her on a daily basis. The only good thing about them is the felx time available.
Which are as follows: 7am to 3:45pm, 8am to 4:45pm and 9 to 5:45pm with a 45 minute lunch and 2 coffe or should i say cigarette brakes. One in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Things that go on at the office on a daily basis:
1) you must clock in through your phone every morning and your computer
2) you must clock out when you go out to lunch and then clock back in when you return
3) your computer has some sort of a censor on it that let's management know at there desk that you have been away from your computer for more then 15 iminutes. They then send out a search party for you to be located!!!
You of course will be found in the bathroom, by the fax machine or by the photo copy machine working of course!
4) the performance reviews have CRAZY expectations!
5) oh did i mention that everyone in the no-fault dept has to stay an extra 2 hours a day to make phone contacts with the involved claimants! Hello?????????
6) the phone system jumps from phone to phone on the floor until someone freakin answer's it
7) the current supervisor's and managers on the floor are cavemean and women since they have been with the company over 15 to 20 year's and no absolutely nothing about insurance!!! they have been promoted by there own friends over them
8) the new employee's that were hired in 2006 and current know more technical lingo then the people who brag about being there 12 to 20 year's.
9) There is a HUGE amuont of favoritisim
10) Hey let's not forget the PSYCHOLOGIC test that you NOW have to take just to get your foot in the door and obtain an interview! What a JOKE! If you dont pass this test they dont even call you back for an interview.
11) okay NOW! you dont have to be a rocket scientest or nucleary medicine doctor to work claims
12) okay NOW! claims consist of proper damage on the vehicles, no-fault for the medical payments, bodily injury for the law suit's and home owners insurance.......oh and let's not for get the ***THOUSANDS OF LAW SUIT'S THAT COME IN ON A DAILY TO WEEKLY BAISIS FOR THE NO-FAULT DEPT! This is called the no-fault litigatio dept!

I can go on and on and on! My friend HATES her job and is constantly stressed out because of the MICROMANAGEMENT. Make sure all of your stuff is done in a timely manner, answer the phones, answer the 200 emails, speak with the claimants, speak with the plaintiff and defence attorneys, answer to management.....maintain your diaries that get backed up constantly.

People there literally either QUIT or just get FIRED in an unfair manner. It is truly disgusting and sad!

People there have clearly told me that they are all in HELL!

I am so glad that i dont work for this company!

It's sad to see so many negative reviews and even sadder that I am continuing the trend. I work in property claims and am tired of being overworked and stressed.

I get constant phone calls from angry customers wanting their checks but I'm not allowed to tell them I'm too busy to process their claim. So what am I supposed to say...I was just too lazy to pay you? We're supposed to care about the customer and make them feel special, but how can we as employees pass the sentiment along if we don't feel cared for ourselves?

The workload is high...several employees have are over 100 claims in their inventories. Our average was supposed to be 45, was bumped up to 50, but for most of this year 60+ new claims is common. But of course we have the same expectations to handle claims as when we have 20 in our inventories, which by the way was a long, long time ago.

Management's answer to handling your claims...overtime. They tell us on Monday...you can do 10 hours this week. Then Friday comes and they realize, oh they didn't get done as much as we expected...you can do 8 more hours over the weekend. Yippee! I love giving up my home life to doing more of the job that I loathe.

It would be nice if management could offer a hand every once in awhile, but instead they spend most of the week in meetings talking about how high the volume is, rather than pitching in to get the volume down. They also work 40 (or less) hours each week. So while the minions (AKA claim reps) are encouraged (forced) to do overtime, they come in late and leave early. I have yet to see any of them come in on the weekend. Their answer to improving employee morale is to feed us cake or ice cream. So basically, they want to fatten us up so we aren't able to move from our desks at all.

We all work our butts off and have been an "A" office for several years. How do we get rewarded...with a pat on the back and a "you're lucky to still have a job" mentality. You can't become an "A" office without everyone's effort, however we're told there's no money for raises. Thanks for all your hard work but we can't reward you. However, please keep up the good work so we can keep our good standing? Are you serious? We work our butts off and take time away from our families to become one of the top offices, but we don't get paid more? Why would we continue doing top tier work if it doesn't pay off? Does management realize they've basically shot themselves in the foot? If you don't pay your employees more when they improve every year, why would they continue to improve? So many of my coworkers, myself included, don't see the point of trying to hit the target numbers if it doesn't make a difference in our paychecks. So, most of us are doing just barely enough to get by. I hope we hit management where it hurts and lose our “A” status.

Others have mentioned that unless you are "teacher's pet", your chances for job advancement are slim to none. Unfortunately, I agree. This job used to be both interesting and enjoyable but after my first year reality set in and I realized that I was not moving up in this company. I’ll be stuck in claims until I retire or move in, or am forced out the door for not meeting expectations.

I'm looking for employment elsewhere. The only thing that keeps me going is my ever present daydream about handing over my resignation letter. This company has soured me from wanting any other insurance job anywhere else, so I am looking outside of the insurance field. I am looking forward to sleeping better and having a life again. I miss my family and enjoyed doing volunteer work, something I haven’t been able to do much since all the overtime began.

I believe all Travelers employees should get together and strike. We should all just walk out one day and allow management to finally roll up their sleeves and get a dose of what we have to deal with.

You read the comments and the experiences of employees are similar across the nation. I would say the employee morale is pretty terrible. Most of us are being driven to do the work of two employees. The new hires come in believing this will lead to prosperity through a raise or promotion, but the veterans have been worn down to the point that most of them are just waiting on the economy to pick up and will take the next thing that comes along. The exodus appears to have begun in several offices as we see staffing at levels so low that upper management drives employees to work more and more at no benefit to the employees or their families. Many of us were hired with a belief that 28-32 claims a month would be average with 40 for a stretch. The new model is to push for 60+ while maintaining an expection for the metrics based on the 28-32 ideal. The responsibility for allowing this to happen lies in the individual as much as with any executive management team. We have allowed this to happen by slowly being pressured into more and more claim volume with the promise that "there is light at the end of the tunnel" and "we are hiring 20 new people". The hiring of new people is great except that they come in and train for a year while the veterans get burned out and seek employment elsewhere. This cycle will continue into the foreseeable future. I believe the solution is simple. We as individual employees have to learn to say "NO". We need to make a choice to see two claims a day each day and get those taken care of because we all know that 60 claims a month is not really possible when you factor in drive times, initial calls, customer follow ups, emails, voicemail, holdback release and negotiation with vendors. If we would all unofficially band together and stick with 40 a month each of us would eventually be scheduled out so far that the agents will once again have to stand up and tell Alpharetta to get their stuff together or they will stop writing our policies. It is not the job of the EMT to care about the employees; their job is to get results. I am sure they have a lot of pressure to drive employees to take on an extra workload b/c when you have been a C office for as long as I can remember, someone is probably asking tough questions about why you still have a job. The solution is simple, but until the individual forces Travelers to look at the staffing situation, nothing will change. We will be force fed solutions that avoid the problem at hand rather than turning the tables and making EMT at Alpharetta and those at Home Office see that the the ONLY way to achieve the results they want is to make sure each employee has the ability to do a day's work in a day. That can only happen when we are fully staffed. Once we are properly staffed every issue we are told to fix will take care of itself from inspection times to callback issues. Customer Service and Employee satisfaction are co-dependent. You cannot have one without the other regardless of how much you threaten. Correctly staffing for 28-32 a month will yield better results for the customers, employees, management and even the stockholders b/c satified workers make satisfied customers and the brand image drives business. We can make this happen, but we are going to have to stand united b/c the pressure from EMT will be too much for any one or five or ten people to handle. It is a choice we will all have to make. I want to work at Travelers. I would rather take a chance on making it better than continue to wake up in the middle of the night apprehensive of what the next day holds. We'll see.