Decent First Insurance Job; Difficult to Sustain a Career due to Culture/Pay/Lack of Advancement Opportunity
Pros
I want to make this as honest and comprehensive a review as possible, so prospective employees can have a good idea of what it's like to work at PHLY, at least from account management's perspective (which grants unique insight into other departments as well, though). - Work life balance is a big emphasis at this company, though I'm not sure it applies as much to salaried employees such as underwriters and marketing reps. PTO is generous, there is no hassle to taking emergency time off if the need arises, study time is granted if you are working on a designation or license, and there is some flexibility with work hours. Generally this is an 8:30-5 job, but that can be adjusted slightly if there is a need or strong desire. - Benefits are great: solid health plan, 5% 401k match, bereavement leave if needed, designation courses are encouraged, reimbursed for, and you get a bonus for passing exams. I have been told other benefits such as short & long term disability, paternity leave, and others are also flexible and generous, but I did not personally have need for those while I was there. - The people in my office were for the most part great to work with. Most everyone was friendly and willing to talk or answer questions or help with whatever problem you were dealing with. I would highly recommend trying to develop relationships and friendships with people in every department, as they can all offer unique insights and advice from differing perspectives. - Management team in the Customer Service department was excellent. Really made you want to work well for and with them, super friendly and personable, out for your success and fulfillment as much as they had control over. They really are rooting for you to succeed, and will very willingly share info about the company, industry, personal experiences etc. to help you in your own career development. - Great entry level position for someone with minimal experience to explore the property/casualty insurance industry from the carrier side. As an AE, you get a unique view into many different functions of an insurance company, including: account management, marketing/sales, underwriting, risk management, billing, compliance, and claims. - The job itself is fairly straightforward, but does take quite awhile to get the hang of. Especially if you are new to insurance. Your day will consist primarily of working on accounts in your pipeline (requesting info, entering submissions into the company system, completing various pre-qualification checklists in the system, pre-qualifying accounts with the brokers, coordinating account stuff between marketing and underwriting), working through emails, and making phone calls (no cold calling though). - Exercise/volunteering/wellness strongly encouraged and emphasized from the top down. Rewards for running races and participating in athletic events, reward system for healthy eating and exercising regularly, etc. 7.5 volunteer hours granted per year, additional hours encouraged. - There are a fair amount of company events that occur throughout the year, which are usually fun ways to hang out with co-workers in a more relaxed environment. Examples: monthly celebrations to highlight various successes, anniversaries, etc., Christmas party, Junesanity activities (various little games or dress days or meals in June), end of summer party. - Office is well-stocked with amenities such as coffee (including pre-ordered and stocked K-cups of various coffees and teas), paper plates/cups, plastic utensils, tissue and paper towels, and various types of candy depending on who brings them that time. Not all offices have these small perks, but they are a nice addition to have.
Cons
- The pay at PHLY is very low relative to the rest of the industry. PHLY is the type of company that simultaneously pays very poorly AND expects you to work at that wage for years before being considered for promotion opportunities. - Very slow upward mobility, minimal pay raises even when promoted. They often try to laterally move you (i.e. moving from AE to an underwriter trainee position would provide a nominal or nonexistent raise). Minimal salary increases each year, even with high performance review scores. - The overall process of doing business internally makes sense, but is very inefficient. Way too many people involved in each individual account. PHLY has at least 3 people (marketing rep, underwriter, AE) working on any one account, with many responsibilities seemingly overlapping between the departments. Management is commonly brought in to work with the field teams on the accounts, leading to even more people trying to work on the same account. - There is an INTENSE rivalry between the marketing and underwriting departments that is getting worse and worse. The two departments at many times are openly hostile towards one another, making it very difficult and tense to try and work between them (where the AE is supposed to function). The reason for this is: marketing is rewarded based on top-line premium bound (commission based employees), while underwriters are rewarded based on both premium bound AND, more importantly, profitability/loss ratio. These competing objectives lead to large amounts of dissent, stress, and frustration between the departments that management only perpetuates and encourages when they get involved. - As a follow up to the previous point, this is very much a MARKETING company. Marketing is decisively the dominant department in this company from the top down, which serves to undermine the underwriters and greatly reduce the level of authority and respect they possess. If an underwriter expresses any level of skepticism towards an account of any size, they are labeled as being "too negative" and "too skeptical or pessimistic," and marketing management proceeds to try and get them in hot water. - The AE role is very much in flux, isn't set in its responsibilities, and the three main departments all view the position very differently: - Account management/customer service views the AE role as an ever expanding support role for the overall submission process that eventually leads to more autonomy, underwriting/rating authority, and other specialized skills to create more value for the position. - Marketing views the AE role as nothing more than a marketing assistant type of role, where the AE is there to support the marketing department and to be used as an ally against underwriting. Marketing absolutely does NOT want the AE role to expand and evolve, as it would naturally lead to the marketing department becoming less and less necessary. - Underwriting views the AE role as a pre-qualification type of position, that tees up the account for the underwriters to work on, and take more of a neutral role in the process. - All of this leads to a great deal of confusion within the role and department about what you are supposed to be doing as an AE. Are you supposed to be allying with marketing against underwriting? Do you take more of an underwriting spin on everything (which VERY much upsets marketing and will lead to intense pressure from the top down to knock off any type of underwriting bias whatsoever)? Do you try and take a true middle ground in the process? The answers to these questions aren't readily known at this point.
