senior accountant

life science consultant

intern

James River Group

PROS:
Fast pace environment - most days fly by
Great location - nearby shops and restaurants
Underground parking available
Great benefits include paid time off, paid holidays, bereavement, paid gym membership, paid schooling, volunteer time off, voting leave, one floater holiday, early close each month, casual Thursdays & Fridays, healthy snacks are provided monthly as well as pizza parties (if goals are met), annual raise and bonus
Laid back office - office morale seemed positive/above average
Birthdays are usually recognized and so are baby showers, weddings, deaths, etc.
Most coworkers were fun to be around - entertaining environment

CONS:
Be prepared to answer phones constantly while still maintaining your desk 
Clients can be rude on the phones which can darken your mood
Only favorite employees are promoted - Seniority doesn't exist
No overtime available - The system will automatically lock you out even though your manager approves it
As a tech, you have to work at least one holiday and will only receive regular pay rate
No opportunities to work from home even though the entire job is done over the phone and computer
Non-existent training program
Management will ask for it, but they really don't value your input/feedback/preferences 
Personal metrics are not kept confidential. They are displayed for all other coworkers to see and compete against. 
If you have significantly high metrics, you will not be rewarded or recognized in any way. At the end of the year, you will still fall in the "meets" category. 
No room for growth even though it's a growing company - They only hire/promote new employees

Working in their claims office is hard work but rewarding. They are growing at a pace that is hard to keep-up with so there is definitely a lot of work. However, if you are self motivated and willing to learn then there is a lot of growth potential.The benefits are good and you get a lot of PTO. Most people that started with no experience are promoted in less than a year. Their training is only a of couple weeks long and then they let you start working live claims. They teach you "hands - on" in a "learning by doing" system. Those that haven't succeeded, seem to lack the drive to want to do well or don't ask questions. Personally, I was constantly asking questions in the beginning but now I have caught on and rarely need help anymore.

One thing to note it the managers don't walk around and offer help. They don't constantly look over your shoulder (which is nice). The managers have a lot of work on their plate so they seem constantly busy. However, as soon as you need help or ask them a question they will drop everything to assist you. 

Overall, the job is tough but fair.

As a former employee i do not recommend this company to any persons hoping to grow their career in a positive direction.  As stated in previous review your growth, the resources you obtain do do your job and opportunities you receive are solely based on the discretion of  management, not by how you do your job but how politically beneficial you are to him or her. Meritocracy does not exist.   Upper and lower management reap the benefits of employee efforts. Public  temper tantrums are welcome. Senior management are not engaged or even sometimes physically remove themselves from subordinate access . if you do not socially conform over time you be will subjected to public ridicule,micromanagement, sabotage, ostracizing behavior,and condescending attitudes despite having or possessing professional accreditations.

Overtime is forced and their excuse is "you're salary" too bad deal with it, we'll exploit you because we can.

They don't tell you overtime is a regular requirement to get the job done when they hire you.  Your schedule is not 9-5...don't ever believe that

They restrict PTO and, again, don't tell you when you are hired.  Keep making excuses about business use comes before the employee.  Work/life balance is terrible.

You feel under surveillance constantly and it's very uncomfortable

They refuse to hire and keep a proper staffing level and then force better employees to help underperforming employees constantlyyy, but for the same pay.  If you don't you're not a "team player"

Pay is average for the industry

Little to no chance of advancement 

Would never recommend anyone work here...ever...

It’s NOT  a high class, reputable place to work.  Pretty sketchy really.  Seems like the company is on the verge of going under too.  Probably due to the kind of poor management that impacts those who work there, especially in claims.  Overbearing and incompetent management in claims.   Micromanagement runs rampant.  They can’t  make a decision without a 5 person conference call.   They track most everything you do too.   If you’re an experienced professional looking for a good career move, go elsewhere.  You’d think that with the high turnover rate they’d realize that there is a problem, but they apparently are not bright enough to figure that out.  Redundancy and inconsistency in processes.  Poorly thought out claims system and no consistency in procedures.  IT is a nightmare.  

Company seeks to be a big player in a very competitive environment with many seasoned competing insurance companies.  Company is less than 20 yrs old.  A lot time and energy is spent on the smallest of accounts.  It hasn't the experience or actuarial support to inspire them to work any differently. The celebrated awesome underwriting system is cumbersome and inefficient. Some work procedures are repetitive and dated and you work with two or three programs/screens for standard processing.    Employees work longer hours just to keep up with the James River way of doing things.  This is the case in underwriting and claims.  Always seems to be a revolving door in with claims, but the rest of the company is more stable.  Competitive benefits and salary.  Nice employees, free coffee and always some food-based award/treat for meeting production or celebrating holidays.

This is a great place to get in the door, if you can survive the workload. The ride-sharing account is the account that takes the most people and they are constantly struggling to keep up with demand. Some Examiners are juggling 200-250 claims and there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. Once the account plateaus and hiring catches up it will be better. Some training has been great and some has been very underdone, it just depends on who you get. Management doesn't have a whole lot of sympathy for 'overworked' complaints and will either tell you "we were busier way back when", or tell you to work more hours/days (Examiners are exempt from overtime). It's a good, steady 9-5 that has some pretty good job security and great pay. If you don't stress easily.

•	Manage a caseload of moderate to heavy severity commercial automobile bodily injury claims by performing coverage reviews, analyze extent of liability, damage analysis and determine strategies for resolution
•	Evaluate, negotiate and settle bodily injury claims, mitigate losses in accordance with policy provisions and within authority level by maintaining a high level of communication internally with claims team member’s, leaders, as well as external insured’s, claimant’s, attorney’s and brokers
•	Analyze and interpret all claims to ensure handling requirements are met in regard to federal laws, state statues and local ordinances and internal guidelines to ensure compliance and updating procedures to maintain accuracy and consistency

This company is floundering right now.  High turnover and a lot of turmoil.  Management is bad, as noted in other reviews.  Seems like they stick these people in management positions without any training and it’s no surprise that they do a poor job.  Arbitrary and inconsistent are two words that come to mind.  They claim to have won some top workplaces award but that must be one they pay for or which does not use impartial criteria.  I see no other way they would garner same.  Bonuses based on favoritism, structure of bonus program is unclear and confusing.  They often seem to make up policies and procedures as they go along.  Decision making by management is poor.  Management looks down on others.  

The workload does not allow for work life balance.  The management is poor.  Turnover is high.  Some of their procedures are redundant and/or do not make sense.  Micromanagement is worse than I have ever experienced.  Poor communication.  Little to no support for employees and HR is as bad as management.  In summation, one of the worst companies I have ever worked for, if not the worst.  

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Senior accountant 2 salaries reported	$97,500 per year
Life science consultant 1 salary reported	$97,500 per year
Intern 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour

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