Claims employees opinion of the compensation changes

Just curious how any current employees feel about recent compensation/profit sharing changes. Although Farmers has a well known reputation for treating employees unfairly, one could always bank on the above average profit sharing of 15% per year. The profit sharing was always the "light at the end of the dark tunnel" in the offices I worked at.

Well, without going into great detail, they basically withdrew the profit sharing program and took away about 19.5% of our compensation. They did allow for a few additional things but in the end, the amount that most employees lost will turn out to be about 10-12 %. The only way to recovery some of what the employees lost was to put in 6% of our salaries so Farmers will match it. They gave them an extra week of vacation also. This amounts to Farmers taking away from the employees the 19.5 and then at best mostly giving back about 8%. There is some program where you can get a performance bonus and a promise that they will lower the standards by which to be graded, but at this point, no one has delievered on that promise. Only that they will change it sometime in the future. All this from a company that has had profit sharing for 80 years (I think) and made over a Billion dollars in profit each of the last 5 years. I guess what I am saying is most employees who look past the ridiculous presentation that they got last week know that they have lost out. The only way to possibly recover what was taken was to greatly exceed expectations and few ever exceed them.

Redman is EXACTLY CORRECT.As I sat in room full of sad souls listening to some figure head spout company propaganda I asked myself, how did I end up here. Despite the wonderful presentation, the fact is that Farmers employees just took one the rear. How shameful and ruthless these people are after a record breaking year of profits.

Points not be ignored:

The work week has now been changed to 40 hours. What a joke, everyone just took a pay cut.
Under the company's new perfermance plan(higher standards), very few people (except the brown nosers) will even qualify as "meets standards". With this rating, you will only qualify for a minimal profit sharing disbursement (3-4%).However you slice it, the equates to another paycut.
This program does not take effect until 2009, I urge all employee's to read the small print and voice their concerns......loudly.

What does management and the people at the top care? They have their nice big fat salaries so profit sharing doesn't really matter to them. I would like to see Farmers go public that way Paul Hopkins would actually have to disclose what his salary is. But I do agree with you guys that propaganda on the new benefits plan was great it made me want to go right out and start looking for another job so I guess it had the effect management is looking for because it is all about cutting costs and maximizing profits. It's funny how the department I work in the majority of people are at a partially meets expectations under the new rating system. I told my supervisor when doing the six month review that either the goals are to high or that there is seriously something wrong with the management of our department since the majority is not meeting the companies expectations.

I agree, there are some screwed up goals out there set by people who no longer can do the job. I guess they are dinosaurs. As far as upper management goes, funny how in thier salary ranges they get more then the 19.5% that they used to. I was wondering if anyone saw it or not. I hope that Farmers does not expect to continue to make 1 billion in profit like they have in the past. The employees lost a tremendous amount of motivation on that day.

Farmers Total Rewards benefits suck - plan and simple, black and white. The new benefits really work well for those over a salary grade 34, however everyone under that gets screwed. They tried to cheerlead all of us into thinking how great the new benefits are during a mandatory 2 hour HRS townhall meeting. What a joke. Then, for those of us under a salary grade 34, they told us we would be getting a 3.5% bump on our base pay. Guess what? All this is is an adjustment to the minimum, not a perk. Farmers Executive management sucks! We all know it. The new higher standards are a total joke. The majority of Farmers employees will continue to be a "meets" expectations. The goals are unrealistic when you consider the issue of forced distribution in performance rating.

I agree, they will in essence create a forced dist allotment of the employees. What I really like was how they put in the 6% if we put ours in first and they they showed all rankings at the highest possible rating. IE: meets can get up to 10%, Your kidding me, I have never gotten a 10%. If they do like they did in the past, they will deduct the one time 3.5% raise from your yearly raise and say that you already got that much and deduct it. Also, that is if you get the 3.5% at all. In this area, we are behind more then 3.5%. Since we dont have the profit sharing anymore, we are even further behind. Farmers mgt is really out of touch if they think anyone bought the crap that they dished out.

Wow! I am so glad I am no longer with Farmers. What a shame, to screw your employees like that. Higher standards...what a joke. I hope management can live with themselves when the next drove of employees walks the plank. Farmers is by far the worst insurance company to work for. Get out while you can.

The compensation is a joke. They play number games here an you'll never see a raise. Just as you reach the bar, they change the rules. Compensation is nothing to brag about. The company sucks.

I agree, they showed the numbers from the company side and not the employee side and even that was transparent. It was sad that this company thought so little of its employees as not to tell them the truth. They had to put on a dog and pony show and it was actually kind of sad how foolish they have made themselves look.

I tell you, this company just keeps making itself look more and more pathetic. I received a call from a previous Supervisor (really good guy). He filled me in about how they tried to make the change sound so wonderful for the employees and how Farmers tried to make it look as if they were really looking out for their employees. I'm now on the outside looking in and I'm thankful for it.

Not to change the subject but, I was terminated on Feb 4,2008 due to my "Job performance". I took a leave of absence for a few weeks due to some complications with my diabetes. I advised my boss of all that was going on the entire time. Upon my return he told me he planned on terminating me (Manager of 6 months and a o a power trip). I advised him of my medical condition once again and I was told, it doesn't matter. "If you can't do your job, tough!" he began taking investigations in my territory and giving them to other investigators on my team and to PI's behind my back. Of course, I was having a tough time making my numbers. When I asked about referrals, he said "they dried up, there aren't any". He's nothing but a lying piece of trash with no integrity or ethics.
He was on an apparent mission to get rid of me and it was obvious. He was working with the previous Manager who has a policy of admitted favoritism. I have no doubt!
Anyway, Farmers instills this type of attitude and lack of morals in their moron managers so, it's no surprise that they display these types of unethical practices as well. The entire lot of them are nothing but a bunch of backhanded, unethical cretinous yahoos!

The one thing that employees could look forward to every March and they take it away. Talk about a slap in the face. They treat their employees like doormats the entire year and now they get to laugh behind close doors that they got over on the employees yet again.

I pray for the day, this crap company takes a header and closes its doors. That would be something definitely worth seeing.

By the way, they still owed me expense money when I was terminated. My moron manager and H/R said they would pay and never did. I filed a Warrant in Debt against Farmers and my moron manager. The Judge is waiting for them to pay the expense money and the court costs. If not, I look forward to my moron ex-manager having a judgment on his credit report!! Return court date is coming up next week. Take care all and hang in their!

Just out of curiousity, this supervisor, what did he tell you about the new program? Was he able to see thru the smoke and mirrors as quick as most were able to? I tell you, it is the single-quickest thing that Farmers did to thier employees to burn whatever good will they had left. But, upper managers dont care,it is obvious that they will get more in bonuses now while those who do the real world work will get less. I think I would rather have my integerity then the extra money. But since they have little sense, they wont even care.

I think it is hilarious, this all stems from claims rep's lack of interest in the supervisor positions. Due to overtime , now many c.r.'s make more money than their supervisors. This bait and switch was the only way upper management could attract potential sup's. I have news for anyone considering this route, the ONLY thing lower than a claims rep in this company is a supervisor. Take a good look at the sup's in any office, they are a bunch of spineless losers. On another subject, I would like to hear opinions on service power(appt scheduling program) and the companies newest attempts to screw c.r.'s out of there break times. How disgusting!!!

well, from what I hear, lots like the fact that there is usually no open inventory. If your batched or dripped it does not matter, you only have the inventory that you are handling for that day or time. The amount of time to travel from spot to spot and the time alloted there for the inspection is too low, but you can run over your time. If you cant get it all done, dispatch calls and reschedules. There is no more having to work OT unless you want to. Our expierence is that they always now ask if we want to, and I mean dispatch not supervisors. Also, good way to prove O/T. They cant deny it if it is in Service power. They cant say your working too slow either as everyone takes more then the alloted time. Now, for the non-exsistence breaks & lunch. This is where the CR's are just having to take them period. It is not relavent if FCS's or FCM's like it, you just take them. I have found that when they ask, if they even know, why your late and you tell them your taking lunch, they will usually back down. I dont think mgt is dumb enough to go after someone for taking a legal lunch or break--it is too easy to prove the time frames are unreasonable on the inspections. I have also noticed this, they try to seclude you from the others CR's and get you to do what they want, but if we keep in contact with each other and keep the same story, they will not be able to pin us down into doing what they think is right. It is actually kind of funny, they dont know enough about the system to even debate the cr's.
Also, your right, with this new system, no one wants to go to Supervision. Hmm,let's see, lose a car, and about 10-15 hours a week for a pathetic 6% raise. Mgt needs to smell the coffee and get with modern times. I think they will once they see that even less people are going to Supervision. IN fact, most FCS's are wanting to go back to FCR spots. Farmers is declining at an alarming rate.

I can tell you that being a supervisor within Farmers claims environment is no cake walk. Your forced to push solid adjusters out the door, because according to corporate policy anybody expect top performers are expendable and replaceable. I have been in meetings where regional managers tell their supervisors to find a way to rid themselves of solid level 3 employee's because " a level 3 well not make you the best supervisor in the company". This is why Farmers promotes young and aggressive supervisors. When you young you don't realize how unethical the whole situation is. Its about survival at Farmers. The aggressive and dishonest destroy the perceived weak and moral.

I think that they will soon realize, if not simply out of survival, that young adjusters and seasones alike, dont want to be supervisors. We have so many openings in Supervision now it is unreal in Texas. With all that is going on, the supers want to step down. There is a lot of reality crashing in on Farmers now. I have noticed that they only people willing to go to supervision is the ones that cant or are too tired to continue to be an adjuster.

Redman,
In response to your question regarding my previous supervisor, when he advised me of what was happening to Profit Sharing, he told me that they had somebody in to speak to the employees and upon doing so, they tried to make things sound that circumstances under the new program are going to be fantastic for the employees. My old Supervisor said "From the word go, it appeared as if they were trying to snow the employees and everybody in the meeting began asking questions which were basically avoided or answered with vague responses.
When I previously spoke of him, he really was a great Supervisor. He looked out for his CR's. He was fair and had ethics and morals. Which is why he ended up getting dumped on by upper management. He ultimately ended up being pushed into a corner in order to make his job a living hell. He ended up transfering to another office and then put up with more "high school headgames". He ended up falling back into a CR position after being a FCS for the better part of 6 years.
That's par for the course with Farmers(The butthole of the insurance industry).
It really is sickening that they do what they do and get away with it. They act as if they are so superior to th employees and they will force your career down the path that they want it to go down.
I actually filed federal charges against my ex dipstick manager and Farmers for my termination. I was advised my case is strong and Farmers immoral actions with my termination were intentional and obvious to say the least. Hopefully, SIU management (aka: The Rubber Gun Patrol) will be put in their place

Well, well, well. It appears my former LOSER company has decided to treat it's employees financially like it has for many years "professionally". Funny thing that I worked my ASS off during 2008 profit sharing week/weekend (yeah...soaked the company for 16 hours) to get my ass cut on the last day of the month.

Gentlemen...Farmers is a waste of time and energy for everyone. They screwed me of nearly $200 in expense money, not to mention of what I thought was a "career" there. But, and this goes out to my asshole sup RL, my car wasn't registered, thus the entire month of March it was ILLEGAL. I am most happy to be riddance of this pathetic company, especially now. Let's see...the profit sharing has been raped; NextGen is killing agents current client base; Colossus went bye-bye (thank GOD); PF now = DB401k. What's next? Bye-bye pension? Bye-bye other perks (car, cash PS...uh, that's all). Higher "Standards"; CR Certs; Customer Service Surveys...HA HA HA HA HA. Management is so stupid to think that CR's actually care. That is a joke. How can you care about a job that sucks the life out of you every day?

Boys...I've joined the REAL world now and work for a BIGGER and BETTER company. FUCK FARMERS. They were the BITCH I used to get a leg-up into a better life.

CYA

I think anyone who takes time to go over there job/career at Farmers would agree with statement-Farmers now is simply a means to an end. It is simply a job. No one has the loyality to this company that it once enjoyed, maybe to each other, but not the company. I hope the company does not really expect to continue to make the kind of money that they used to make.

I absolutely agree with the previous posts. I am considered an "old timer" around here(having survived over 3 years). When I came to work here, there was still some family type atmosphere left in the company. Sadly,this is gone. The agressive profit demands imposed by Zurich and the compliance by spineless leaders such as Paul Hopkins (and others) has resulted in breaking the spirit of almost every employee in this company. I hope that Mr. Hopkins reads this post and wonder if he would dare ask himself the following question: What ever happened to TRUE leadership qualities such openess, honesty and backbone?

I am not sure that they know the difference between managing and leadership. Obviously, there is little leadership around this place. They are more and more like little sheep-truly unable to think for themselves and do what is even close to right for the employess or customers.It seems like they think that they can be supers and managers without the knowledge of how to do the actual job that they expect the adjusters to do. They think that they can manage thier way into success in thier jobs. Mostly, they are laughed at and virtually ignored. May be why they always resort to threats immediately.

Canned Spam,
I can relate to some issues you mentioned. I was still owed money from an expense report that my schmuck manager never paid. After I was terminated, I advised him I wanted my expense money. He advised me, he would approve the report once I turned my equipment in. I said "you're that much of a piece of crap that you're going to stand there and negotiate with MY money?, that's mighty big of you" H/R also advised it would be paid. It never was and I filed a Warrant in Debt. I knew they wouldn't fly up to my area or hire counsel to come to my territory so, I gave it a shot. I was adwarded a judgment against Farmers and my manager. I figured, if it hits his credit report, at least that's a little bit of retrbution. I'm also collecting interest on it now from the DOJ.

As for the car, Farmers never paid the personal property tax on 11 Farmers cars in my state. There was a DMV block on all Farmers cars. My car sat in my driveway for over 2 months, inspection and registration then expired. I advised I wanted to turn the car in and get my $3000.00. He said I needed to keep the car. I said "What for?, I can't drive the damn thing". Of course, had I turned the vehicle in, I would've had $3K before being terminated. That's O.K, I have other things coming up against them.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Farmers is the butthole of the insurance industry!

Anon Insider, your 100% right about the 3.5% increase. It is simply being bumped to the minimum. They must think the employees are stupid for that to go unnoticed.

When I worked there, my manager told me that I was going to get a 2% raise for doing so well. I was young and naive and I actually believed him. Then I was talking to one of the newbies and he had informed me that his starting salary was the same amount of money that I was going to be making with my new raise. They basically had bumped me to the minimum and were DECEIVING me into believing that I was getting a raise.

Guess what, I never even got that raise. When I brought this to the attention of HR they told me that the company did not have to bump me up since I was not meeting expectations. Guess what, at the time I was lied too about my raise I was exceeding expectations, mostly because my claim volume had not reached gargantuan proportions yet. I explained to them that since I was meeting at the time I was promised my "raise" I should be entitled to it. I had an e-mail from my supervisor and my office manager to prove it.

HR still insisted that I was not owed this raise since I was not meeting my expectations at that time. I then threatened them with a law suit and they told me to do what I have to do. This is because they realize that they will save a lot of money on money owed to employees if they force them to take legal action knowing good and well that most will just give up. Guess what, I am not giving up and I am going to get whats owed to me from this ****hole company, for that and many other illegal treatment I suffered.

The management style at Farmers is based on deception and fear. Most of the management in this company are either human garbage or just people who drank too much of the koolaid. I encourage everyone to leave and move on to better things. Did you really all go to college to be claims adjusters anyways. Move on, I did and I couldn't be happier.

AMEN I DON"T WORK THERE ANYMORE and it was shortly after this new "REWARDS" meeting that my kids can tell you that their mom was fired from Farmers as well and the stories of the stress and humiliation that I went through as a result of the termination. It had been about 6 months since I returned to Farmers from an approved FMLA by the company, Liberty Mutual, that approves these leaves. HR and the local claims office was not to be informed of the exact nature of my leave; although a few in the claims office knew the reasons and they were not completely physical in nature. Though other employees I had been told that once you take FMLA you will soon be fired. I worked for Farmers for six and half years and did not agree with all of their practices and when I returned from FMLA all of my work still stood where I had left it 6 weeks prior...behind as usual...and any Farmers or ex-Farmers employee knows what I mean b/c there is never enough time to do your job to expectation. Long story short I was called in and given the Employee Assistance telephone number and told I was being put on leave pending investigation...I called EAP and told them I had no idea why I was calling just that Farmers told me to call. The BCM and HR told me to relax and I would be called in a week or so to further discuss. Instead I was called at 4pm two days later and asked to come into the office. I told my supervisor that was not good idea because I had drank two glasses of wine and I was just told to "stop" and be there in an hour. I did as ordered and then was "yelled" at by the BCM that I had been drinking and they could not interview me and rescheduled. I tried to explain that I had told supervisor of the situation and he just sat there silent. Questioned the next day about my drinking habits, if I had personal conversations with clients, if I had ever cried in front of a claimant or insured, if I had asked for medications from my co-workers and I answered all honestly and then asked if any insured or claimant had made an accusation against me and I was told no. Two weeks later I was called and handed a letter that I was being fired for "misconduct" when I asked what the misconduct was I was told "you already know"...which I did not. In our state you cannot collect unemployment if you are fired unless it was due unjustly. Farmers tried to deny my unemployment but after the Dept of Workforce investigated I was granted the unemployment. Ours is a "right to work state" and had they called me in and simply said we no longer need you I could have explained this better to my sons but instead they fired me for "misconduct" and to this day I have no idea as to what I did in the scope of my duties to qualify as misconduct. Farmers sold themselves to me when they hired me with big promises I did not have to sell myself to them because I had a spotless and impressive work history...Now this and I will not entertain the idea of working for a company that has to "sell" itself to me I will do my own intensive research before working for any company again as most of what I was told was half truths and I am at a lose as to what to tell perspective employers as to why I am no longer at Farmers...although my life with less money and the threat of losing my home and not being able to provide for my children's education is less stressful than it was as working claims at Farmers Insurance, Inc.




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