Pros
The individuals who I have worked for and with in the Boston office are phenomenal and true talents. It is my sincere hope that the senior management in Maine with eventually give them the support they deserve.
Cons
Cross Insurance is only concerned about one thing: the bottom line. And increasing that bottom line through expansion. As they grow their business (an average of purchasing three agencies a year) they do not grow their infrastructure. There is only one person handling what should be the work of an entire HR department and the same goes for IT. Their motto is "Where security meets strength." I assumed this meant strength in numbers. However, every business they purchase is kept as a separate silo. The managers and talent are not aloud to co-mingle or communicate with other silos unless sanctioned by senior staff. Cross may utilize a communication system for all offices, but it's outdate and the flow only goes one way: down. There is no platform for the exchange of ideas or networking. What's most telling is in the details. Like having an employee handbook that specifies exiting to the back parking lot in the case of an emergency regardless that they have offices that don't have "back parking lots". Or promising a staff they'd be grandfathered in for 20 vacation day and five sick (based on the previous employer providing 25 Paid-Time-Off days) and then having Accounting calculate the vacation time at a rate of 10 days per year. The most striking example was my own trouble with benefits. As I worked for four days a week, I did not meet the minimum 35 hours to qualify for benefits. This was not a problem until my husband go laid-off the summer of 2013. My non-Cobra options were to buy family health insurance through the company at full price (about $1,800/month) or give up my one day a week of being a stay-at-home-mom to my two-year-old son and pay more than it would have cost for us to Cobra both health and dental. How is it a company that has experts in benefits insurance coverages for companies could have such a bad program for themselves. I can only reason that it must cost less for them to have such a bad plan. While I never trusted Cross to have my interest at heart, I did trust my direct boss. She was amazingly supportive and did everything in her power to proved a good work place. However, her power was superseded this week as senior staff laid off four of her personnel before notifying her they were going to do so. I was one of the four. Thus I am now able to voice my views without fear of retribution.