Pros
The employees are great for the most part. There's generally a positive atmosphere. While working in office, we enjoyed the use of the gyms, cafeteria's, break rooms, and other amenities such as Starbucks. Although this depends on the office you're working in, the amenities are great across the board. There is also always room to move at GEICO. Whether associates would like to remain in their current department or not, if you work hard (do your job & show up on time), almost anything is possible as far as career opportunities at GEICO.
Cons
The benefits are not great in comparison to competitors. They previously offered 10 days of "CARE" time which is pre-approved sick time to take care of yourself or your dependents, for regular doctors and dentist visits. This is going away in 2021 where they are moving to a "short term disability plan" which could be anywhere from 60-100% of your salary for things like the flu. However, this is administered by a third party so it's up to them if you're really sick or not (and not your doctor). They are allowing associates to continue to use sick time for other sick absences, however all sick time no longer rolls over to the next year, and any sick time used is considered unapproved. The new short term disability is also what they are using for parental leave, and are basing the amount of time off approved partially on the mother's healing time + nurturing time, allowing 6 wks for c-sections only (plus 4 more weeks to nurture the baby!) This completely ignores the fact that most childcare providers do not care for babies less than 3 months old, so if you're looking to take off longer, you will need to take vacation days. Lastly, they do not offer any 401K matching. I was truly surprised when I heard this. The only form of 401K matching they offer is for "profit-sharing" which is not guaranteed and is based on a portion of your salary. Otherwise, you have to wait until your 6th year of continued employment to become 100% vested. The last, and most recent, complaint is that they are pre-maturely requiring certain associates to return to the office, without any consideration for those with disabilities, pre-existing conditions, or in their older years of age (or taking care of/living with someone in those categories). They state that you may become "work from home certified" but this is only after 3 months of employment - so all new associates brought in on the guise that they're working from home? It's not permanent. You have to have meet certain criteria with your metrics AND be in the position for 3 months. What they don't tell you, however, is that if you decide to accept a promotion and are currently "work from certified," that the certification does not transfer over to your new position - even if it is within the same department. They will not tell you until you have already started training in that new position - unable to return to the prior position in order to maintain working from home. On the status of working from home, associates are required to use sick time if they come down with COVID 19 while working in the office. GEICO needs to accept that they are potentially liable for dozens of associates becoming sick with COVID 19, thus becoming potential "super-spreaders" depending upon that associates situation (the company seems to forget what it means to be 'asymptomatic'). At the beginning of COVID, GEICO had sent out a survey requesting that associates let the company know what their work from home preference is. They never released the results of the survey, but It was not listed for there to be an option for "working from home during a pandemic should be merit based." The pandemic is alive and well, and areas have already seen a huge spike in cases since the peak in July. As the holidays are approaching, many associates required to work in the office will not be able to see their family at all - even if they wear masks and maintain distancing, due to being required to return to the office.