insurance agent

sales representative

assistant

training specialist

territory representative

Kemper

VERY BAD Moral of employees.  
What increases??  2018 avg increase was 1.5% yet health premiums increased 8%.  Some people get nothing and if you do an outstanding job and the person next to you is mediocre you both get the same increase so don't kill yourself working harder or faster because you get the same increase as someone who doesn't and then they will expect you to perform at your speed all the time. 

Loved my staff.  District Managers were awesome.  Home office managers (some were good some not so good) Executive level was good until the "new" Sr. V.P. was hired.

I worked there for 14 years under the direction of the now retired Sr. V.P. and it was awesome.  Had excellent yearly reviews (increases still were not good-company is known for VERY low increases across the board) then new Sr. V.P. is hired and a month later I am told that I am being laid off due to a RIF (Reduction In Force-Said they had to tighten the belt) yet company is spending money on new exec board table and chairs, flying SM in for interviews for a DM position which we never did previously, all Agency meetings are being held at a Hotel now instead of in the office where they use to be at.  Yeah, I say they had to "tighten the belt" due to all their spending and creating new positions.  Only two Executive Admins (me and the Presidents who has only been employed for 4 months) yet they laid me off and not her.  INSANE!!   The day they laid me off the new admin was still asking me questions on how to do tasks.  LOL

LOVED helping the field force and the relationships I formed with them.  

I was laid off because I was TOO MUCH "retired Sr. V.P. material" and new Sr. V.P. didn't want anything that the retired Sr. V.P had including me.  He would not even use the desk pad which was in perfect condition. Said he wanted a new one.  

It's a shame because even though the raises were HORRIBLE, I stayed for 14 years because I loved what I did, my staff and my old boss.

Constantly receiving emails from President talking about how much company is making and worth; yet raises were horrible.  When someone quits they are not replaced, the work just gets sprinkled among the workers left behind.

All incentives "that us to be" have been taken away from the employees.  You may get a free lunch a couple times a year but your paycheck is your incentive!!  

Some changes have taken place that I think is great such as becoming more up-to-date on software and moving from handhelds to Ipads for the agents.

Benefits were ok (a little pricey)  401K fully-vested upon hiring and enrolling.  Paid time off, Dental, Vision, etc.  They had a lot of benefits to offer but employee paid pretty good money for them.

I truly enjoyed working there the last 14 years and I know the new Sr. V.P. would have liked me and appreciated my skills and work ethic if he would have given me a chance.

Lot of work for little pay is what you get with Kemper Life.  Don't apply if you are looking to be promoted from within because that is NOT going to happen.  I have witnessed it first hand and on several occasions.  They would rather higher from outside and spend the money and time training a new person rather than promoting from within yet they say they do which is a LIE!!

Three weeks prior to me being laid off new Sr. V.P. gives speech in a Town Hall meeting saying "he looks at Kemper Life like we are all on one big raft and we all need to be rowing in the same direction," well I guess he didn't want me on his raft because he RIF'd me even though I was one of the hardest rowing people on that raft.

It is their loss not mine just be aware if you want to work here!!!!  Lots of work, overtime and little to no increases!!

What is the best part of working at the company?
I really appreciated the collaborative and supportive team environment at Kemper, where everyone was always willing to help each other out

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The 2 applications to evaluate the injury claims.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Working remote with your team,  team supervisor and team manager was incredible. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I understand the importance of each step in the claims handling process and would approach these tasks with a thorough and organized methodology. Here's how I would ensure efficiency and compliance:

Confirm Coverage: Review all policies promptly upon receiving a new claim to verify coverage, ensuring no delays in processing.

Contact Parties: Reach out to insureds, claimants, and any other involved parties to gather relevant details, provide initial guidance, and establish rapport.

Obtain Necessary Information: Order police reports and other supporting documentation. Conduct recorded statements when appropriate, following all legal and procedural guidelines.

Set Reserves: Carefully evaluate and establish appropriate reserves for each claimant or line of coverage based on the available information and anticipated exposure.

Auto Appraisal and Client Communication: Coordinate appraisals promptly or guide clients through the application process with clear instructions.

Determine Liability and Subrogation: Conduct a detailed investigation to assess liability and identify subrogation opportunities, ensuring the company’s interests are protected.

Documentation and Communication: Prepare and mail all necessary contact letters and diary claims to ensure timely follow-ups. Maintain consistent communication with representatives, attorneys, and claimants to explain the injury claims process and address any concerns.

Indexing and Follow-Up: Obtain indexing information for injury claims and set a 25-day diary for consistent claim management and updates.

Review and Settle Injury Claims: Evaluate injury demands thoroughly, secure settlement authority, and negotiate fair resolutions. Extend settlement offers in writing and communicate them clearly to all parties.

No Excess Coverage Letters: Call insureds to explain the no excess coverage letter, ensuring they understand its purpose and necessity. Follow up by sending the letter via email and requesting a signed return.

By adhering to these structured steps, I would ensure a high level of service, compliance, and efficiency in managing claims, while maintaining a focus on accuracy and professionalism.

For starters, this job is not for everyone. The pay is better than entry level jobs but only if you sell well will that be maintained. You are offered a "salary" but it usually consists of about 300-400 dollars a week while filling your tank up at least twice a week and buying food on the go. You have to sell to the same clients you see every month which will result in canvassing in not-so-great neighborhoods to prospect new clients as you are stuck in territories. Benefits compared to other places are horrible with high deductibles. If you have one blank month with no sales, it could potentially affect your pay the rest of the year. Constantly being pushed to get sales, collections, and servicing. You get penalized if you sell to a new client and that client ghosts you and lapses, to no fault of your own, you get punished in your pay and persistancy, for it. Managers recently have become more micro-managers with less help in the field. Focusing more on new agents rather than helping their current team. Sick days and vacation days are a joke. You are still urged to work from home while sick and cannot recieve support from your managers while out. The results will always show and affect your future pay. If you need to take time off, you might as well not. You do not get reimbursed for anything. That includes gas, food, mail postage, car insurance (max limits required), etc. At some point you will experience the dangers of the job due to the areas you are assigned to. They do not like to assign areas near where you live so be prepared to drive 30 plus minutes everyday to get to your territory. If you are a new agent you will be required to go to the office everyday before driving to your assigned territory. Clients have no respect for your time. They will call at all hours of the day and if you do not answer right away, they will complain to all upper management. They will pay for your licensing and training which is pretty good! Your first year expect to make 30-35k.

I put 12+ years in this place.  LISTEN TO ME.  I done 3 peoples jobs if they wanted to take vaction time.  I worked hard and was on time everyday.  Got let go for no reason at all.  It doesnt matter how much you put into this place you'll never get recognized for it.  Do not waste your time its a dead end!  Cross Training in other positions and learning other jobs including your own will get you no where but out the door.  I was doing my job in the field in the pouring down cold rain 2/20/20 and got in trouble cause I left the building like I was instructed to and they couldnt terminate me until I got back...they wanted to do it right then and couldnt they had to wait and literally were pouting about it like children.  I was doing my job and I got back they called me and another co-worker of mine into a room and pretty much said thanks for the 12 years but no thanks....goodbye! The manager that done the termination had only been our manager for a few months and was from out of town at another location with the company and what upset me is she tried to treat me like she'd known me for years when it was more like 2 months or so and had to look down at her papers to call me by my first name...she didnt know me or my co-workers and that was really frustrating to see her act like she did.  I was treated like a criminal leaving as well wasnt aloud to even get my belongings only my backpack and a few things couldnt say goodbye to the people that became like a family to me for over 12 years...supervisor walked me to my car and I was asked to leave.  My belongings were delivered to me later on that Friday after.  I'll never get those 12+ years back and there are some people I seen everyday and got used to seeing that ill never see again! Loved this place until about 2-3 years ago and then THEY took over Infinity and it was miserable.  I should have gotten out earlier and wish I would have! 

Kemper a great company. Rana ll reports

• Served as lead consultant for development of a Producer Management System, to capture and evaluate Kemper’s Producer base, and classify these agents for senior management.
• Provided to senior management the monthly, quarterly, and yearend financial production, profitability, pricing and retention reports.
• Served as the budgeting coordinator for the regions 2000 – 2003 budget meetings. Completed financial modeling.
• Provided the financial forecasting for the Property and Casualty operation as well as the Commercial Marine Department.
• Handled the financial claims function as related to impact on financial reserving.
• Established standardized reporting system for corporate underwriting and Marketing that eliminated individual report redundancy.
• Commended by senior management for recommendations made in areas of profitability and underwriting loss, which resulted in improvement to the corporate P&L results.
• Played a key role in developing a corporate planning tool to expedite and facilitate the annual strategic budgeting and forecasting process.
• Spearheaded the regional large account team, which analyzed total account profitability. This resulted in a 10% increase in retention and a 5% increase in sales
• Analyzed demographic data, to successfully penetrate market locations and business segments, which resulted in a 15% increase in new business.
• Trained corporate executives, and underwriting staff on internal and external computer systems, and statistical interpretation of results. To maximize productivity and uniformity in processes.
• Created an underwriter evaluation report card to monitor performance and career assessment for succession planning.

A typical day at work as a Claims Adjuster was non stop stress to meet unreasonable metrics. You receive your own full load of claims to work and be audited on, but on top of that in the name of customer service you spend the majority of your day answering calls for adjusters who are more often than not on the phone with one of your customers not so sure what is going on in the file. So the circle keeps spinning around. You actually wind up hanging up on customers or leaving them on hold in order for your phone stats to meet goal.

You learn to cut corners on customer service because all that matters is numbers, numbers and more numbers to upper management and their superiors who do not view you as a human being, just a direct report with no time to think and trying to do eight things at once.

Management sets unrealistic goals and metrics where it becomes impossible to earn a bonus or raise of any kind.  Management appears to think if they keep raising the bar higher for adjusters to work claims files and non stop phones all will be well.  It's not.

The workplace culture is one where when a gift card is given out you have to be in a high stakes competition or group activity.  Rules change and there are favorites so even gift cards rarely come to fruition.  Even worse - monthly birthday cake was taken away by upper management's superiors because we had to save time and money.  For what? 

The hardest part of the job was seeing so many fellow adjusters and supervisors either quit, be unjustly fired or go out on leave. You tried not to get to close to anyone even if they had decades of insurance experience because they might be gone the next week.

The best part of the job was - leaving it.

I applied for a position that requires specific credentials that I possess and instead was put down to Policy Services, a starting position. I didn't know what my job was until the day after I started.

They have courses available that are paid for by the company that helps you to advance, and you get bonuses for passing those courses; however, they do not make known that those courses are available. You have to figure it out on your own. You also can't do your job effectively unless you already have a background in insurance, or you take those courses, because management doesn't actually train you. They show you how to key in one type of thing and the rest of them you either have to figure out for yourself or you have to catch a manager when they're available. We weren't allowed to help each other out, either.

Management doesn't know what they're doing. They can't decide on what the rules are, and are consistently squabbling at each other and the employees for not doing things right. There are often cases where, if you do what your supervisor suggests you do, you get audited.

God forbid you have any kind of emergency. Even if you have PTO available, it counts against you. Management calls off regularly for whatever reason, but employees can't have a medical or property emergency without having issues with the company as well.

The job itself was quite easy once you actually know what you're doing. Make sure you're prompting your manager to train you though, because they will ignore you otherwise. You also have to remind them to put in required-by-the-company journals, which they never actually do. Good luck with your end-of-year review.

I am unsure about the direction of the company.
The company has made several large aquisitions in recent years, and brought in an entirely new management team.
Their main focus seems to be on analytics, and time management.

 My job cannot always be put on paper, as regulatory compliance is an ever-changing environment, subject to the whims of the various state insurance departments and Mother Nature, as natural disasters affect many of my regulatory filings.  

I enjoy the confidence my immediate supervisor has in me.
I take regulatory requirements, design my filings, work directly with IT to develop programs to extract the information that I need, and work independently to complete the requirements of the various states.

I have no typical day, but let's use today as an example:  I met with the Vice President of Rate Filings to determine any changes in the products we sell since 2014, in anticipation of an upcoming audit by Florida.  

I put together a listing of all product forms for examples to send to Florida, and sent the listing to Policyholder Service to produce, so they could be scanned and uploaded to the Florida audit site.  

I reviewed a premium file for one of our companies for the IT department, as we have been having some issues developing the file since a system conversion.

I produced our monthly accrual for the business Personal Property Taxes for our various district offices around the country.

Kemper is trying to figure themselves out. They know the general direction they want to go, but man, the journey has been painful at times. I really loved the people I worked with, but there is some disconnect with middle management.  Constant changes often provided little value to the job or added more work to complete simple tasks. There were so many workarounds. We had workarounds for workarounds. We got a new claim system that was touted as a problem solver, but was not. It actually made the job less efficient, which is nuts. That efficiency issue would either cause you work way longer or diminish the service provided to customers. While the claim volume is lower than other carriers (based on conversation with my coworkers/ new hires), the tasks we needed to complete filled the time gap. It’s sad that setting  up 5 claims could take up most of your day. 

Pay raises are kind of a joke.  The way Kemper goes about it seems antiquated.  Team leads are given a “bucket of money” from were they can dole out pay raises.  Underperforming adjusters are not given raises. But there’s more to that. Even if everyone meets expectations, someone is gonna be the odd man out. 
We did get some free lunches, but were mainly paid for but vendors attempting to woe us for a contract. Considering how many vendors we used in my time, we got a lot of lunch. 

I’ll wrap it up with this. Turnover, turnover, turnover. I started looking for a new job after watching most of a training class of 5 (experienced) field adjusters leave within 2 months of hire. I figured I had Stockholm Syndrome for staying so long. The day I left the company several others did as well. 

I have been with Kemper since they acquired Infinity a couple of years ago, and overall, I am very happy with Kemper. 
Promotion from within is definitely possible, so long as you are open to working hard, accepting critique, and continuing to develop your skills. Kemper provides on the job training, and also covers the cost of necessary licenses, continuing education, and applicable licensing fees. I had no prior insurance experience, but have gained a wealth of knowledge in the last three years. Kemper also acknowledges the importance of diversity and inclusion in the work place and is not hesitant to acknowledge areas where this could be improved.

I feel like the compensation could be better, at least for my current role, but I feel overall the pay scale is fair and comparable to other companies in the industry (based on the other positions I have held). There have been some growing pains and communication gaps, but that is to be expected with a merger/acquisition, and normally, these have been handled and addressed well.

Kemper also has done an excellent job of handling the COVID19 pandemic and shifting almost all employees to a temporary work from home model. They have addressed our concerns and really shown their care for their employees during this time. 

I am very happy working for Kemper and definitely see myself remaining with the company for many years to come!




Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Insurance agent 63 salaries reported	$61,215 per year
Sales representative 8 salaries reported	$53,279 per year
Assistant 18 salaries reported	$30.00 per hour
Training specialist 4 salaries reported	$72,500 per year
Territory representative 3 salaries reported	$69,183 per year

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