USAA Reviews

Current Employee – been working at USAA full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good benefits
Good bonus
On site clinics
On site gyms, sports and recreational facilities
Open and friendly management
Big employee community
Good coaching, mentoring, and training opportunities

Cons – Slow in pay increase
Below industry avg base salary
Emphasis on soft skills over technical skills sometimes create many talk only employees
Overly dependent on third-party employees

Advice to Senior Management – Put more emphasis on and reward good technical skills. Good technical resource will leave the company if they don't feel valued or they feel they are not recognized just because they are not good talkers.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at USAA

Pros – Strong mission. innovative leadership and leader of product and experience design.

Cons – Can be very beurocratic and slow to change

Advice to Senior Management – Increase visibility and trust employees to do their job

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

Former Employee – worked at USAA full-time for less than a year

Pros – -Benefits
-Pay
-Work Site is amazing: Gym, Cafeteria, Scenery, Relaxation Rooms
-Company's Business Practices: You can really feel proud of the company that you work for

USAA is a wonderful employer in terms of the benefits that they offer to their employees. Annual and holiday bonuses, different amenities on-site that promote wellness and health. Pay is decent. There are decent shifts available, but you just have to be able to land one. And it depends on what department you're in and what hours your department is open.

The one thing that made it hard for me to leave USAA is that I really do believe in their mission. I am a military spouse and was a member long before I was ever an employee and always appreciated USAA's dedication to their members. I can confidently say that USAA is one of the few remaining large companies who do things ethically. I could honestly say day after day that I was proud to work for a company that had this mentality.

Cons – -Stress of the demands of the call volume
-Not having time to think about the call that you just got off of before another one came in
-Having to stay late because you're stuck on a call
-Never knowing what time you're going to get off: There were several times I was there over an hour late and missed either a scheduled appointment or an engagement with my husband or friends that was previously set up.
-Not being allowed to use the restroom between breaks/lunches without it being brought up as an adherence issue: Sometimes your body doesn't work on the same schedule that the scheduling department sets up for you. And most of the time you didn't actually go to your break/lunch on time anyway due to being stuck on a call, so to hold it for that time and then be stuck there for another hour is not good for your body. We're adults; if there is an urgent bathroom issue, you shouldn't be hesitant to go and take care of your body's needs.
-Having metrics that are out of your control constantly shoved in your face: The goal in mortgage originations was to have a certain percentage of your calls result in an application. Understandably, there should be an expectation to obtain applications and get business for the company. However, without being able to monitor how many of your calls are from members who already have an application in place and are just simply calling in to get more information or a misdirected call that was meant for another department (typically home owner's insurance), it's not a fair evaluation of the work that you're really doing and can be very discouraging.

This might vary from departmnet to department, but I was in Mortgage Originations talking to member's about new mortgages and taking applications. Some of these calls could last 2-3 hours at times. This would make me absolutely dread the end of the day as I never knew if I'd get stuck on a call or not. I could never plan anything w/in 2 hours of the end of my shift because I never knew if I'd be able to make it or not. Also, with these calls being so long and involved, I felt it was unrealistic to expect MSR's to have no ACW (After Call Work) between calls. If you just got off of a really long call, the last thing you want to do is go right into another one.

The stress to produce applications was so high that I began having anxiety issues and my body was having physical reactions to the stress. My work/life balance was completely out of whack due to constantly staying late because of being stuck on a phone call. My frequently used term in my vocabulary became, "Sorry I missed the appointment, phonecall, dinner, etc.; I got stuck on a call."

Advice to Senior Management – Understand that although this is a call center and there are certain expectations, your MSR's are assisting your member's with the largest purchase of their entire lives and might need some time between calls to finish up a file as the member's sometimes can't continue to hold after already being on the phone for 1-2 hours.

Understand that your MSR's rarely go to their breaks/lunches on time so if they are going to the restroom before that allottted time its because they know that they won't be able to hold it when that dreaded application call comes in five minutes before breaktime.

Find more opportunities to provide greentime to your MSRs so that burnout doesn't happen.

Understand that taking call after call after call and having the exact same conversation with different people and having to act like its the first time you've ever had it can get extremely burdensome and there will be times someone just wants to sit in ACW and have a little bit of a break before going into the next phonecall.

Understand that not every call is an opportunity as you suggest. If i'm in mortgage originations and I get a call from a member who needs to cancel their home owner's insurance, that is not an opportunity for a sales referral. Although you seem to think that those calls are few and far between, they happen a lot more than you think that they do.

Current Employee – been working at USAA as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – work culture, salary, facilities, fellow employees, training

Cons – nothing to mention
competition among vendors

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at USAA full-time for less than a year

Pros – The atmosphere and work ethic is awesome at this company. It's all about serving those who service us in the military. You work hard for what they provide you, ex. gym membership on site, relaxation room, huge cafe, etc. The attitude is always no one left behind which was encouraging.

Cons – Employment is contingent on passing a state licensing exam, the 4-40. They pay for a one week class and three chances to pass. It's incredibly difficult. My advice, if you can afford to take a class on your own, take the test before coming in so you don't have to deal with the stress of taking it there.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at USAA full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Benefits are some of the best offered. Flexible schedules and paid holidays also help to lure you in.

Cons – Management does not see eye-to-eye with each other. Knowing someone helps to move up in the company.

Advice to Senior Management – Get on the same page and manage consistently per team.

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

Current Employee – been working at USAA

Pros – Great Work Life Balance. The company has a noble mission.
If you work in San Antonio or Phoenix there is room for progression if you choose to pursue
Excellent Benefits,Bonus and Tuition Assistance Program.

Cons – Base salaries start low relative to the national averages.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at USAA full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great benefits at a company that cares about its employees and its members.

Cons – Only located in San Antonio, TX.

Advice to Senior Management – Allow employees to work remotely to expand talent pool beyond San Antonio

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

Former Employee – worked at USAA full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – The pay, the benefits, the mission, the CEO, the innovation

Cons – The extreme micromanaging of the Colorado Springs office. Many of the employees are on FMLA because of the severe harassment and intimidation that goes on daily in this office. If you want a job here, get ready to give up your personal life! You can't get a day off for anything!!!...and for the multitude of weeks vacation you get, you have to BID for your time off in NOVEMBER of the previous year!!! You most likely won't get it!

Advice to Senior Management – Fix the morale issues in the Colorado Springs office. The top employees (Seniors and MRS I's) are led by THE WORST management team I have EVER worked with!!!

– I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at USAA full-time for more than a year

Pros – The co-workers and management team in my area were amazing, 40 hr work week, 18.8% performance bonus in '13 (and last several years) plus extra paycheck in December, this makes up for the low salaries, paid OT, 8% 401k match, great benefits, great training, any job off of the phones would be great.

Cons – This is a call center job, you will be tied to your desk, can't eat lunch or take breaks with friends, this is not a career - it is a job, highly sales oriented atmosphere, performance review is ultimately subject to your sales performance, other departments will cold drop members to you who have no idea why they are talking to you or believe that you will simply update their address or finish the "second part of the call", it will be up to you to open the call and try to make a sale, no clear upward mobility progression structure, as a new hire you will be working Saturdays for at least the first year or two, you will not be able to get off any decent holidays for at least the first 2 yrs, high stress and high pressure. Ultimately this is a job with a steady paycheck but if you have any other opportunities that are not in a call center, take it and forget about this job. I left for a better opportunity and am so happy I did.

Advice to Senior Management – Lower to Middle management: Keep doing what you are doing, I believe you are doing all you can with the limited resources available to you and you do a great job showing employees that you care.

Senior management: Stop pushing the referrals so hard, it is sad to see that in every other department, reps' performance reviews are solely based on referrals (Even if that's not what it says on paper). This is creating a poor experience for our members and makes USAA look like they don't know what they are doing when a member is being told they are being transferred for a reason that a financial advisor absolutely cannot address.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend