My short experience as an adjustor with Farmers

I have worked for Farmers for 14 months. Before that I worked in the communications industry for 17 years. I finished my degree and thought I would try something different.

I heard good things about Farmers and applied for an APD Adjuster position. The first topic in my interview was pay, it was pretty low for a college graduate and my interviewer agreed but said the money would come. This was an entry level position and I figured there would be room for growth. Did the quick math in my head and decided I could manage for the time being. I was told that I would receive a small raise at 6 months and then again at 12 months and then annually from there on. At six months I got a 5% raise as I was a meets employee, not bad considering I am brand new to this type of work. At 12 months I was told no raises as the company has frozen all raises. I explained that this was not what was agreed to when I accepted the position. My supervisor explained that he would send me for the level 32 test which would be a much larger raise, that was 5 months ago and every time I bring it up he says “yeah, I need to set that up for you”. I have been told this 6 times so far, still no test. The funny thing about this is that all of the adjustor’s performance metrics in the office are posted on a big white board in the office and are updated weekly. I have had the highest scores for the last six months, exceeds in all areas except for estimate accuracy in which I am only .2 shy of meeting exceeds. This includes adjustors that have been with the company for 3, 5, 10 and 15 plus years.

This week the entire management crew is in meetings in Dallas for three days leaving all of the BCO’s in my region without any supervision. Guess who my supervisor stuck with the task of acting supervisor during his absence? That’s right, the guy with the least amount of experience, me. Although flattered with the newly appointed responsibility, I am absolutely flabbergasted at the thought. I am making decisions for veteran adjustors that have much more experience that I do. This makes no sense to me.

I was told during the interview that I would be thoroughly trained in my line of business and the state licensing exam. Six weeks of regional school which could have easily been cut in half as the trainer was on the phone half of the time. Home office school was excellent, learned a lot. I was to be sent to licensing school for a week to prepare for the state exam. Instead I was given an internet based course which recommended 50 hours of study time and my supervisor gave me two days in the office to complete the course work and take the test. I am proud to say I did so and still made an 84 on the exam.

The bottom line is this, Farmers is full of crap. They offered me promises that they never kept. Management is very good at pillow talk and acting dumb and offering excuses as to why they have not lived up to their part of the bargain.

I am happy to say that I have secured another position back in the communications industry and come Monday morning when my supervisor comes back to work he will find my resignation letter on his desk.

Please note that all of the above is factual, I have no reason to exaggerate as I am done with Farmers.