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Principal Financial Group

Engaged employer

Toxic and insane workplace - Customer Service Representative Principal Financial Group Employee Review

1.0
Jul 2, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

competitive pay, medium benefits, large campus.

Cons

requirement to meet 4 minute Average Handle Time(AHT), so on average you don't take more than 4 minutes helping a caller, and are penalized or even fired if your AHT, but you can't control if an office calls with 6 policies with dozens of questions each, or there are 3rd part insurance verification companies outsourcing their contracts with dental offices all over the country and outsource them to a massive call-center in India who will ask about 100's of procedures one by one rather than letting you fax or email them, and the language barrier makes it infinitely slower having to repeat yourself over and over and over again. And then all the mangement say is "well, just try to control what you can on the call" which is nothing. You can't control when a caller isn't prepared and takes 3 minutes for them to give the information to pull up their account and verify them, so you're left with 1 minute to wrap it up to meet your 4 minute Average Handle Time goal which is impossible. People are constantly quitting or getting fired, and nothing is done to keep or retain good enployees. because it's a revolving door of trying to get new hires while employees keep leaving because they can't meet the insane goal, they are constantly understaffed, leading to backed up call queues, so the once the callers get through they try to make the most of their time with you and ask about 6, 7, 8 accounts so you end up with a 15-20 minute call and you get punished because the mismanagement and failure to staff adequately. Seperate issue is the change to "Neighborhood Seating" instead of assigned desks/cubicles. People don't wipe down or clean their workstations after themselves, and before covid a bad case of the flu spread the entire floor because everyone switches and shares desks and keyboards and they weren't being cleaned, so covid made it an even more sever issue but still non-assigned seating persists to this day.

Explore other reviews about Principal Financial Group

5.0
May 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Three years in and still LOVE it. Great leadership. Work-like balance. Principal invests in their employees with training and professional development. It's very telling when literally thousands of employees have been there for 20-25-30+ years.

Cons

First time in a large company. Sometimes it is tricky to find the right internal partner to get the answer you need.

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Principal Financial Group Response
2w
We appreciate your feedback! Hearing that you felt supported reinforces what we're proud of—the strong community we've built together.
2.0
Jun 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent work life balance and benefits. Principal offers a pension which is unheard of in today’s age.

Cons

Pay is below average and Principal does not offer inflation raises. Once you hit the midpoint of your salary, you will get a 0% raise until you’re promoted, which will take multiple years regardless of performance. Performance reviews are vague and often used against employees to avoid promotions. At least in my department, I’ve yet to see any of the remote workers be promoted. This is starting to affect attrition and we’re already starting to see people leaving. It’s well known at this point that the best way to get promoted is to leave Principal and get rehired, which even leadership has stated publicly. This is a huge frustration and blow to morale, as it starts to feel like employees need to compete against their co-workers for raises.

1
avatar
Principal Financial Group Response
1w
We appreciate you sharing your feedback. As a leader in retirement solutions and employee benefits, we strive to provide our employees with a competitive benefits package. Our global pay philosophy is guided by market-driven principles. and we leverage third-party market data to ensure our base salary and incentives remain appropriately competitive.
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