sales representative

insurance agent

training manager

agency manager

entry level sales representative

Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co.

Working at Colonial Life was a generally miserable experience. What started as a seemingly advantageous opportunity to make a decent chunk of money over a long period of time ended up becoming a job that required a lot of work for very little profit, all whilst being surrounded by people who feel completely disingenuous. 

During my time as an Account Executive, I put in roughly 45 hours a week (and would've put in more if I didn't also have educational needs to attend to) and much of that was cold calling and scouting for new clients. For an insurance company this is common, but the company's reputation - which is non-existent at best and tainted at worst - made the simple act of cold calling a nightmare to behold. While it's natural for any job requiring cold calling to entail a lot of hang-ups and rude folks, it wasn't uncommon to see about 60% of the 200 daily calls result in someone hanging up, insulting you for wasting their time, or stating that they'd never get insurance from a company they never even heard of.

While I'm all for smaller, fresher companies that trudge through an uphill battle to achieve a good reputation among its clients, there's a difference between being a struggling, ambitious start-up and being a cheap, sleazy new name in the insurance industry that seems to actively try and pull fast ones on both employees and clients as their means of business. Colonial states that they do not do commercials because they'd rather put that money into the pockets of those who worked hard in the company, though even landing solid deals with companies nets you an absolutely pathetic commission for months of hard work. I can only imagine they don't do commercials because they either a.) cannot afford to or b.) would rather be lining their own pockets instead, and not the pockets of those who started the relationship between the clients in the first place.

The cherry on top is how absolutely fake everyone feels. There's something to be said about leaving your emotions at the door before heading into work, but it's another issue entirely when it feels like the people teaching you either don't believe in their own values, or actively seem to be lying to you on a near daily basis. While they are generally nice and seldom aggressive, I honestly could not ever imagine having a meaningful conversation with any of my higher ups due to the sheer amount of half-truths and slogans that seemed to be meticulously programmed to come out of their mouths.

Overall, I'd honestly say you could be working at some fast food joints and make more money there in one month than you could working five months at Colonial. If you need any proof that this is a company that lacks integrity and genuine care for their clients, I welcome you to look up reviews of their insurance policies and packages. I'd heard plenty of complaints from clients while working at Colonial that discussed how they were left waiting on a claim to pay out for years or were denied coverage due to Colonial's very restrictive guidelines - and that's just from personal experience. There's plenty more online that echo these sentiments, and while I never signed up for their policies, I have no reason to doubt that their concerns are unfounded. No matter how charismatic the recruiter is or how lofty the promises of a sizable nest egg in five years time, they say that the best protection is prevention; their policies or their employment might not pay off, but staying as far away from them as possible sure will.

Agents are independent and work in an office owned by an independent DGA. The success is dependent upon the DGA. If there is a good DGA that is a strong leader, then the office can be somewhat successful. If not, then the entire office is exposed to failure and it's not just the DGA that fails, it is the entire office. Leadership on a territory level above the DGA is sporadic at best depending on who you are. Bad decisions on placing DGAs seems to be a common thread with Colonial Life. I have worked in several offices under several DGAs destined for failure. Pleas and cries for help to the Territory office go unheard or just flat out ignored. Like really ignored, no response, no action, just nothing even after read receipts are sent with emails asking for help. And if they are heard, any positive change that comes will certainly be too late after all hope is lost for the district and many agents have failed due to a lack of positive winning culture. There may be winning culture in some offices, but the ones I worked in were filled with failures in leadership positions. As an Agency Development Manager, poor leadership in the office curtailed most recruiting and prospecting efforts, making the goal of recruiting people with winning mindsets nearly impossible. Sales and team building suffers in the process. I hope Colonial can get better in their evaluations on leadership talent. I have seen more offices in the southeast fold than I care to count. But there is an illusion of work/life balance that can be seen. The problem is that if you cannot be successful because there is no direction in your leadership, you will have work/life balance, but you won't be able to enjoy it. There is zero accountability from the territory office when it comes to DGAs with poor leadership and whoever is left after the office implodes is written off and all new people are brought in who are oblivious to the failings of the previous office...then repeat the whole process with the next DGA and the perpetual cycle continues. I have lived through this process 3 times. And each time, my proverbial "I told you so" falls on deaf ears just like the last time and the time before it. My 1 star review is based on my experience. To be fair others may have a better experience with better leadership.

You can have the benefit of a flexible schedule and can be off when you want but if you don’t work you’re more than likely screwed. However the managers always get first dibs and seem to get the most commission as they feel they need to be at every enrollment and do not let the lower agents reap the benefits. They lie to you to keep you around by tempting you with enrollments and then make up an excuse why it did not happen when in reality they did not tell you the actual dates because they wanted the money to themselves and in the end they care about the money you bring in and get mad if you don’t work. They don’t actually care about you and constantly critique and criticize how you interacted with a client. Because apparently no one can do it better than them. If you have months saved up then yes work here because you likely will not be able to live off of this unstable income. They have great products though but you only get paid when you enroll and there is no guarantee you will get employees to sign on. They say they give you leads but that’s not true at all it’s cold leads and it’s over saturated so the leads you get are likely not good or going anywhere. If you have connections and network this would also be good for you but even I did and still had barely any luck. They hype it up and make it sound way better than it is trust me. You keep telling yourself it will get better things will improve but in the end when you look at the big picture this job is unrealistic unless you’re a favorite or a manager who gets all the favoritism. They stab you in the back so much it seems like. I hope this strays anybody who isn’t already in insurance or has connections because I feel bad for the younger people getting into this thinking it is great and good for them but in reality the managers are money pigs. 

Colonial Life is focused on workplace marketing of insurance products as part of a comprehensive employee benefit plan in both the Private and Public marketplaces.  

Most days were spent counselling employees about their benefit choices at their workplace, assisting with their enrollment choices and providing completed electronic or paper based enrollment data to the employer.  

In a typical day, an employee group meeting was provided followed by individual employee meetings to assist making their benefit decisions including their core Medical-Dental-Vision insurance plan options.

I found management were mostly developed from withing the organization so they understood the business from their "feet on the street" experiences.  This helped create a positive employee/manager relationship.

The culture was based on doing the right thing with respect for both internal and external customers.  This worked excellent for my personal culture as well as my career.

A challenge to the job was being able to pivot to a productive activity when an enrollment was postponed or cancelled last minute.  Another was getting the employer to agree to providing the best venue for a successful employee benefit experience.  

I spent a good deal of my adult career in this business as a Benefits Counselor and in Management by choice because of the variety of experiences day to day, the independence the roles provided and the flexibility to maintain a positive work-life balance.

The Associate Customer Service Rep is the WORST position to have at Colonial Life!!! The best parts of this position are the training period, the benefits & the cafeteria. But once OJT is over all hell breaks loose. The paycheck definitely isn't worth the constant stress. 

You spend the day explaining the same things over & over and sometimes are given incorrect information regarding claims. If you're off the phone too long management is hounding you about the time you spend doing after-call work (there are only 3 secs allotted between calls if you stay in an active status). You're told to do everything you can to help callers, then docked points on call audits if your call time average is too high. Some of the managers really care about providing excellent service but others are just there for a paycheck.

The coworkers are nice & there are different incentives offered during each quarter. You have full benefits including health, dental, life and disability that start on your first day of employment.  There are also a number of employee discounts available around town, like at the zoo. The food in the cafeteria is EXCELLENT and affordable. But if you work the 11-8 shift & have lunch around 3 you might want to grab something before it closes around 1:30/2. Overall, Colonial Life is an excellent company but the call center is the worst department to work in.

You must have at least 6 months of savings in order to take this job, have no EGO because you will hear a lot of NOs over the 100 cold calls you make in a week. You must have a tablet and a working phone with internet access, the company does not supply anything.It is commission only, and it normally takes time to make any money. You will need to spend on proper clothing, pay for your car expenses, food, and your normal life expenses as well (so that is why 6 months+ on savings is a good average). The numbers of premiums you have to sell in order to make a descent amount are not unrealistic, but if you live in a city where most companies only have 10-15 employees, you will not make anything, or will have to work a lot more to get the same as if you find a company with 50+. There are other people involved in the process, so you do not have full control of your premiums sold, so you must trust the person that will sell them. You are the person to make the phone call, establish and keep the relationship and handle the complaints (the hardest positions of all). It is a career that you can see the benefits in the long term. If you need a normal way of making money, have another job on the side or consider a different career. You are self-employed, but you have to work on a full-time schedule and reach the company goals. 

When you get hired at Colonial/Unum, you will be promised almost limitless advancement opportunities once you've put in your one year in the call center.  The actual truth is you will be waiting upwards of 3 years.  If you can make it that long.  The archaic, smashed together hodgepodge of systems makes if difficult to service calls, and information is confusing and contradicting.  You have to be nearly psychic to figure out the billing system.
The job is made more difficult as the rest of the company is far in the weeds.  Payments received over two months ago are still not processed to the accounts, claims are routinely past the promised processing dates.  I can't blame the customers for calling in upset.
Escalations line will refuse to take calls, and report you for every time you attempt to get a customer who literally demanded a manager to a manager.  Call times are supposed to be about 5 minutes with no hold or after call work.  If you don't meet these metrics, it effects your pay, schedule, and ability to advance.  Sobbing widow on the phone?  Better hope she gets to the point fast.  Customer angry because they got a cancellation notice due to the fact we didn't process a payment they made two months ago?  Welp, we got metrics to meet.  Its ridiculous.
The spin this company puts on bad situations is amazing.  They do nothing to improve, but they know how to make it seem reasonable until you have 30 seconds to think on it.

As an ASR or sales rep for this company you are self employed (commission only but not captive) If you don't realize that walking in with your eyes open you in for a rude awakening. It does take time (2-5 years) to build a strong book of business and thus a consistent income. That is in any insurance sales position. The deal is with colonial if you like the insurance business mainly marketing life and health products to corporate entities and can or really determine to make it through the initial start up phase this can be a six figure career working on your terms.  The company has good products and reputation in the business. Those who make it will create an asset for themselves. The two top producers in my office had been there 10 years but were both making over $200,000. Most people come to this position with a job mentality ( its a business opportunity...not a job) which is doomed for failure. Second, just realize because it is commission only there are no ceilings ( yeah) but don't expect a floor initially either. You have to do what you have to do to make it work. Position requires maximium buy in and ownership to make it work.

This job can be great, but you need to work your butt off for months, if not years before you have any real shot at making a lot of money. Now, this may sound fine to you; "anyone can do that," you might say, and you would be right. However, after you have to work 5 days a week, 8 to 10 hour days, talking to business owners who don't really care about what you have to say and disrespect you as soon as you open a dialog with them for a couple months, and only have made about 12k for all your trouble; you might start to think differently. You will be left on your own for the most part, and while everyone I worked with was friendly, everyone wants to keep the business they get so don't expect much real help. I managed to work for this company for 8 long months, and just in my office alone, we have nearly 10 people come to work for a month and then quite... The turnover rate is insane, and if you are just looking to try something new and make some good money, I hope you have friends in very high places.

The recruiter uses manipulative verbiage in the job postings in order to persuade you to attend a group presentation on the company's products and services. The truth is that the job does not involve professional consulting at all; instead, it is an outside sales job fully compensated by commission. I am an organizational consultant, and I can prove my claims about this company. There is not even basic consulting skills necessary for this job. 
   All of the job postings for Paul Revere and Voluntary Benefits are associated with selling "voluntary" benefits to local employers (non-essential or minor benefits). Their products are closely parallel to that of Combined Insurance and First Investors. The only money made is from what is sold. All of these companies use manipulative verbiage in their job descriptions and titles in order to avoid upfront rejections from prospective candidates. 
   Furthermore, any person who accepts the outside sales job must pay fees and pass a certification test before selling any products. In other words, all risks of failure and imvestments fall on the salesperson who accepts the poorly described job. 
  Good luck!

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