Aetna Reviews

I worked at Aetna full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Aetna promotes work-at-home and understands that it's not just a perk for employees, but a way to retain talented employees.

Cons – Many positions were transferred to CVS Caremark, a company which does NOT promote or understand work-at-home or even work/life balance.

Advice to Senior Management – Take a closer look at how CVS Caremark treats the employees who work on the Aetna account. Some seasoned and talented [former Aetna work-at-home] employees have been laid off in favor of hiring new office-based employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Aetna full-time for more than a year

Pros – Aetna is a great company to work for, with overall good benefits except for Medical. The management team is great!

Cons – For medical benefits they offer an HSA where you pay most of the stuff out of pocket. They also offer
lower then market pay using the health benefits as a carrott but its not really that good.

Advice to Senior Management – Its one of the greatest companies I ever worked for. Great managers but allow employees to buy same good plans that customers can buy (medical insurance)

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Aetna

Pros – flexible work arrangement, supportive senior management, variety in job content, nice people to work with

Cons – salary not competitive, benefits not competitive

I worked at Aetna full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Paid time off is excellent. Use your time however you want or need for sick, vacation, and personal. Work from home is accepted and encouraged, and creates good work-life balance.

Cons – Too much reliance and spending on vendors and consultants. Technology is modern and cutting-edge, but no training or investment in employees to implement and support the technology will lead to failure.

Employees are kept in the dark on major decisions and long-term strategy and vision is not clear. Multiple reorganizations and job eliminations in the past few years. As a product of this, job responsibilities and departments can change very quickly, but it takes many months for HR details (reporting structure, title, salary, etc) to follow suit. What appear to be promotions end up being increased responsibility with no title change and no salary increase.

No support from HR, told to talk to your manager whose hands are often just as tied by upper management

Limited opportunity for advancement unless you are in headquarters in Hartford. Salaries are low and internal moves are capped at a percentage that will often not even bring you to the minimum of the salary range.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop relying so heavily on vendors and consultants, and put more investment back into your employees. Be more transparent.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Aetna full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – if you are salaried & have a good manager, things are as good as they can be. It is a rapidly changing environment these days in this sector. However, if you have a dud as a manger, or are paid on an hourly basis, be prepared to return to kindergarten: Customer service reps literally have to get permission to use the toilet.

Assuming you are salaried, and have a decent manager, some units can be great to work for. It really comes down to how effective your manager is.

If you can find a niche and do it well, you can prosper here as long as you know that each year your role will keep expanding...

Cons – Company is known for its IT spend, however, most of that is dedicated to window dressing i.e. what the outside sees if they are looking in. Internally, best description is a home with a nice façade, but is actually a bunch of rooms cobbled together with spit & rubber bands.

Health benefits are QUITE expensive, only high deductible plans are offered. At times, seems there is too much of a big brother atmosphere, what with nurses/pharmacy management/etc calling & sending correspondence to you.

There is a disconnect between some of the directors and reality - decisions are made without consulting those that actually have to do the work/ implement the change. Unrealistic deadlines are the norm given the slim staffing levels, and impossible to meet with only a skeleton crew.

Company purchases salary market data but it is not used past initial hire: if you stay with the company, typically merit is at 2-3%. Taking another job internally will not get you to market rate as salary increases are maxed out at 10% or less. The longer you stay, the further behind you will lag. The only way to "correct" your salary is to leave the company....

There is a prevailing belief that IT personnel can be swapped/interchanged without impact. The truth is, it takes quite a bit to understand one system & its interfaces with a myriad of others, and you MUST understand the health insurance business and its processes, then move on to understand how this company fits those parts together. It ain't pretty. This fact has been ignored despite chronic missed requirements & defects. Most IT is on visa or offshore

 Lay offs can be expected across all sectors at least annually, or bi-annually.

Advice to Senior Management – PLEASE have discussions with the "worker bees"! ASK What is involved, what will it take to make this actually happen? Don't just hand down a decision without understanding the impact down hill. Be sure you are obtaining this information from the troops in the field - not just the Operation head that they report to as MUCH is lost as the information gets filtered up. consider staffing levels in proportion to the task/volume....

With the current focus on "culture" - let's REALLY explore that. Ask "what are the unwritten rules here?" and allow employees to respond honestly & anonymously. Otherwise, it's just all hot air, feel good propaganda! The Emperor's New Clothes is tossed around her quite a bit.
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Pay your most experienced & productive employees at the market value for their tenure with the company! We are losing/have lost too much talent to the actual culture of "post out or stay underpaid".

We need continuity in the IT arena despite what you are told: too many times we have someone who finally 'gets it' and poof they are gone, so we start all over at square one.

I have been working at Aetna full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Work from home, flex schedule, ok benefits.

Cons – Not very good pay or benefits, need to increase pay scale.

Advice to Senior Management – Need to evaluate the pay for employees

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Aetna full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Salary was reasonable and benefits were acceptable. Job responsibilities were mostly as expected.

Cons – If you're not part of the internal good ol boy network it is hard to get promotions. Those who are, well get promoted whether capable of doing the job or not.

Advice to Senior Management – Look at the IT management, hold them responsible for poor hiring practices, and remove those who cannot properly perform the responsibilities assigned to them.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Aetna full-time for more than a year

Pros – work life balance, vacation day accrual

Cons – very large company with main HQ in Hartford

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Aetna full-time

Pros – The interview was easy enough. Typical questions on handling complex questions and issue resolution.

Cons – The application process can take a long time between submitting the application and actual job offer.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Aetna full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Lots of programs available to employees, great benefits, very health & wellness driven. Great training.

Cons – Very strict policies, and quite a "clock puncher" attitude from most employees in mid level positions or lower.

Advice to Senior Management – Take feedback from everyday employees regarding their supervisors and higher ups and make it anonymous to avoid problems.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company