claims adjuster

manager

Hastings Insurance

Note- it has been 10 years since I worked here so I am speaking to my experience… I have no idea what it’s like now. 
HMIC is located in Hastings and has all of the qualities of small town living. 
The good: there were a lot of really nice people - breaks were enjoyable in the cafe spent eating really good food prepared fresh that day shared while chatting with coworkers. The building is large and people were welcome to walk laps around the perimeter of the building (inside or out), individually or in small groups. For those who enjoy holidays and friendly competition, Halloween was always a big deal with departments having a decorating contest, a big parade with costume contests, and several other festivities. It was a lot of fun each year. 
The work was mundane but the company provided a lot of training and opportunities for personal growth, including a Toast Masters program. Benefits were good and pay was competitive for the work. There seemed a good mentoring system in place for some as well. 
The bad: the work itself was boring. Especially for those like me who worked in the mail processing department, located in the basement. Which brings me to…
The ugly: there was a class structure- those on the third floor (top floor) were the commercial underwriters and they got the highest pay, all the extra flashy perks and trips and were overall treated as royalty. Many of them had a superiority complex and acted as though they were royalty, often treating others outside of their department with either disrespect or as though we didn’t exist. 
Personal lines underwriting was located on the second floor. Most of the second floor staff seemed dejected and angry like they were the middle child who didn’t get the perks, recognition nor respect of the commercial underwriters but felt superior to the “underclassmen” in the basement. Their behavior was quite catty and moody. 
Those of us who worked on the bottom floor (entry level whose jobs had less of an impact on the company’s bottom line) were overall treated like third class citizens. 
There was a lot of small-mindedness which was frustrating and stifled my desire to put my all into the work. Upper management at the time I worked there (10+ years ago) stoked the fires that kept the class culture firmly in place. Overall I did not feel supported except for by some of my peers. 

The first few months were wonderful as an 'express' claims rep. The atmosphere in the department was and stayed fabulous because of the co-workers. As an 'express' rep you can stay on top of tasks and even help out other co-workers. 
However once promoted to 'core', it all falls apart. Training is sporadic, the remaining managers are unhelpful and rude. You will NEVER be caught up and NEVER be able to clear your diary. There is far too much work per person and we're constantly told our performance is lacking. Several people half walked out in the past several months or managed to find a new job and quit. One friend who just walked out stated HR admitted "The workload is INHUMANE"!! Even the best managers have quit, leaving the worst manager whom is RARELY available to assist when you need it. 
I was the lowest paid rep, but at the time of my leaving had one of the highest seniority of being there. New employees were being hired in 6 CENTS behind me, and then early OVER $1 above me once promoted. I asked several times, but nothing regarding my pay was reviewed or adjusted. 

Hastings Mutual has a strong history behind it and a lot of respect in the marketplace. I think they may have rested a bit too much on it but fortunately the leadership is focused on improving their tools and offerings to agents and policyholders. The new website and the ongoing Guidewire implementation are the biggest examples of that focus. 

The company, like many, is going through a lot of change, aside from the two projects above. Insurance is an industry with many workers nearing retirement, which means Hastings has seen and will continue to see a large generational shift. I see this as a pro; but there are pockets in the company who are a bit change resistant. I don't think that is an uncommon situation though. 

Benefits are decent overall, as is PTO and sick leave offerings. Compensation is average, but nothing super competitive. The bonus potential is there and can be a nice perk as is the 401k match. The cafeteria and onsite gym are nice touches! 

The building is VERY dated but fortunately a large renovation project starts mid-2018. This is another example of the company evolving for the better. I recommend HMIC!

Senior management was excellent.  Proactive on moving company forward.  Worked well with the employees.  Pro education and moving the employees to advance.  

Middle management was competitive and immature.  That was the biggest drawback.  HR was not the best.  They sorely lacked in professionalism.  Did not know how to handle private issued in an employees life.  They literally would YELL at an employee if they had a personal issue arise.  Senior management would be shielded from this due to the power the HR people had - aka - middle management. 

Once you could get around middle management, it was a great place to work.   

I had a situation where senior management told my manager (middle management) to change my job so that I was more challenged.  This was written on my annual review.  She told me she would never do this because I was needed to do the job I had.  How sad of her.  One of the reasons I left my position at Hastings Mutual.

I only give this place 4 stars because of the location and how many genuine people work there. The community here is totally the classic humble small town community you'd expect from Hastings and if you live in the city, this is a really nice place to work. The management on the other hand is just outrageous. No respect and they give the individual too much power (i'm talking about toxic co-workers). The managers here do not know how to manage the toxic people. They just let them gallivant around and harass everyone. Someone needs to step up and put an end to it, but guess what? No one will because everyone there is afraid of management. They all need their jobs. So they just put their heads down and wont say a peep. All that being said it was still a very enjoyable place to work just don't expect management to have any idea what to do.

Direct supervisor was excellent and always there to support us as individuals, and my coworkers were incredibly friendly; however, the managers above him were incredibly micromanaging of him and of us, and often seemed to not really understand what our jobs were and asked far too much of us. Too many people on my level were not doing their jobs and were getting away with it, and were constantly "sick", pushing all their work onto us. The multi-line position is supposed to be a jack of all trades, which it is, but they expect too much of us and not enough of the other workers such as the salvage reps and subrogation. Overall, a very poor experience as a worker. Extremely high turnover which is easy to see why once you've worked a couple weeks there.

I liked working at Hastings Mutual.  Many of my co-workers were rather stuffy, and long time employees who were very set in their ways.  Lots of turn over in the claims department within the last year or so have had people on edge. A large number of supervisors in various areas of the claims department have recently retired or found other employment, so there is uncertainty as well as opportunity in the company. All in  all it's a comfortable place to work, and the small town atmosphere is great.

Leadership is all about numbers without taking into consideration other factors for daily performance and service.  Claim applications are poor in performance which directly affects productivity and efficiency.  There are several other inefficient processes in place and unfortunately, leadership does not appear to listen to ideas or recommendations of those working in the trenches.  The overall morale in Claims has declined to devastatingly low levels and turnover is an everyday occurrence.  The company is becoming so focused on micro-management that it is crippling the confidence, ability and performance of their most dedicated and experienced claims people.

I highly recommend you go anywhere but here. Pay is lower than industry standard, management has no idea what they are doing. No one is running this place!  Leadership is weak, training is non existent, and while they pile more and more work on you, you can’t keep up and get told it’s your time management skills. It’s not. Instead of holding people responsible for mistakes, they make you just correct them. And you don’t have time for that. Do you like stress?  Do you want to have a heart attack?  That’s the only good reason to work here.  They suck you in with express and make it seem easy, then promote you to core and it all falls apart. Systems are old and outdated, nothing works. I would give zero stars if it let me.

I enjoyed many of the people I worked with.  This position opened opportunities for me to work with an Arson Investigator and gain a great deal of experience in this part of claims adjusting.  I also managed a very large territory and worked with the largest storm & wind catastrophe in the history of my territory.  Hastings Mutual is one of the largest farm writers in the state of Michigan and many of those farms were in my territory.  I settled very large dairy, farm element and cat losses during my employ in this position.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Claims adjuster 3 salaries reported	$70,000 per year
Manager 1 salary reported	$60,000 per year

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