customer service representative

software engineer

actuary

information security analyst

consultant

Premera Blue Cross

I used to love Premera until i opened my eyes and saw how much of a popularity contest it was. If you aren't brown nosing and making your managers feel special there isn't really any advancement opportunities for you. 

I applied for Premera based on the advancement opportunities that they boasted about. I had worked for Regence in Provider customer service prior and i was tired of being on the phones all day. I wanted to further my career within the health insurance industry. But i soon realized that no matter how good your number are if someone is liked more than you are they will get the job over you. 

Premera also does things very backwards in my opinion. When you first apply you are applying for a position in their provider customer service department. when you get the job you go through 4-5 weeks of paid training. if it weren't for my prior background at Regence I don't think i would have made it through training because most of their trainers are just awful. 5 out of the 11 or 12 people that were in my training class left and I believe its because the training wasn't that great. After training you are put on the phones, usually they have you hired by July and finished with training by September. you're then on the phones for a couple months and they throw you in another awful training course for member customer service so they can loan you out to member for the open enrollment period. at the same time they are training contractors to be in provider customer service to help because they just moved half of us to member customer service for 6 months. This in my opinion is backwards. If every year you know you are going to need more people in member, then hire people for member. cut out the extra training courses and let people who want to be in member, be in member. Its an absolute waste of time and sets some of us who are not meant for member customer service, up for failure. 

On top of that you don't get a pay raise like the permanent member employees you get a spot bonus which is no where equal to what we should get paid for the work we do, especially considering most of us are also taking provider customer service calls at the same time. double work for not enough pay. 

Premera has also made a recent business decision about their member customer service which means a possible lay off by the end of the year. that also means everyone on loan to member stays in member and will possibly not get their bonus like promised. Supervisors also announce these things to us without any answers to follow up questions that we all had. 

Everything is up in the air and backwards at Premera. Its very disappointing because i was hoping to make career out of this company but i didn't get the chance because i wasn't the most popular one in the group. There are a lot of people I know who feel the same way.

Ridiculous expectations - there’s been a recent change in the claims processing production numbers where anything related to a new claim is expected to be done at a rate of 18 per hour, and anything related to adjusting a claim is expected to be done at a rate of 8 per hour. There is at least one claim type where this is impossible to achieve because those claims can be over 30 lines and the system freezes while trying to save it, and one claim like that can take over an hour by itself. 

Micromanaging galore. They track mouse/keyboard movement down to the minute. Literally, if you stop producing to read an email or procedure and don’t keep your mouse moving you are considered idle and being idle for anything more than 15% of your day is a problem. Competitors have similar tracking but much more compassionate standards. Department heads schedule your work daily including telling you which order to work different tasks and giving you only the amount of time the production standards assume you should take without taking into consideration that each claim is different and may take longer than the standard time. 

Employees doing the work don’t get bonuses, but their bosses and the bosses’ bosses do. Not to mention whatever the CEO gets each year (at least a million dollars in previous years, even as employees were laid off or held to a maximum 2% raise). 

You accrue a decent amount of paid time off based on tenure, but you may be in a department that won’t allow more than 2 people off on the same day, so it’s hard to get a day off and use your earned PTO. Of course, this is happening at the same time corporate emails are sent regularly to remind you to take your PTO. 

Departments dwindle as people change positions or leave the company, and are rarely replaced. This wouldn’t be so bad if the work didn’t stay the same and the expectations don’t stay the same. Inventory skyrockets and then there are pushes to get it under control and pressure to work overtime. 

The company offers telecommuting, but only provides $40 a month as a stipend for doing so. Due to the company firewall and other security measures, you can only use one or the other of two major broadband or cable internet companies, and they usually charge more than $100 a month for internet. 

You’re supposed to have flexible hours but certain departments require you work between certain hours and don’t allow you to take long lunches or make up time throughout the week if you have an appointment or something. Not so flexible after all, I guess. 

Where to begin?  At our badging ceremony, I observed a co-worker deliberately having her first name misspelled, a trainer standing closely enough to her face to warrant a physical assault charge while screaming at her for politely standing back in line to have it corrected, while deliberately manipulating the other contractors present into an 'us versus her' mentality for 'messing up' the trainer's 'golden moment' by standing back in line again.  The first several days of training, she was repeatedly targeted, one trainer insinuating that because she had spoken to another contractor after work about starting a carpool, that meant she 'didn't know how to find websites'.  Another trainer suggest she 'dye her gray hair' if she wanted to continue work there.  The same trainer who attacked her at badging was observed standing over her and rubbing in the misspelling of her name.. which was done as deliberate slander as an 'office joke', as the misspelled version turned out to be a match for an adult film star.. which they were also observed laughing about post badging ceremony.  They segregated the racial minorities and older members of the training class into their own half of the group, deliberately arranged trainer position so it was difficult for that half of the group to hear, and 'forgot' to allow them full access to training tools the first day.  In addition, the 'head trainer' wasn't present for the bulk of the training to take responsibility for her class.  After training, the segregated portion was again put into their 'own special' section on the floor which was conveniently lacking computers, so once again the 'socially acceptable' portion of the class had the advantage of being able to fully set up their work spaces ahead of the others.  In addition, I witnessed constant denigration and psychological abuse towards the segregated group by the trainers during their first weeks on the floor.  They would deliberately walk up behind the contractors, often times while they were on the phone with customers, and criticize them for things like taking bathroom breaks or 'annoying' the 'second tier' people by asking them for help over Skype (as they were told to do in training).  All in all, if you think customer service should involve acting like a prison felon towards other employees and the customer? then this is your place to be.  If you empathize with customers and people the way they advertise for?  You're a guppy about to be thrown in a shark tank.

Premera is a leading health insurance company in the Northwest United States and is a classic corporate Windows/.NET/C# development environment.

Premera has a large and highly structured IT department of around 600+ employees and contractors.  Structurally, Premera has numerous, separate IT departments to handle databases, security, infrastructure, project management, etc. and a ticketing system to request and receive work requests for managing work among these departments.  This reduces the amount of control a development team has over a project and can make development frustrating at times.  Similarly, HIPPA regulations make both development and production support, challenging, resulting in sometimes overwrought security controls and concerns.  Subsequently, there is a lot of process around who can see and do things, making both development and production support more difficult.

In spite of this, Premera is making efforts to streamline its processes.  It recently has begun an IT-wide adoption of Agile practices, the use of multi-discipline teams and is working to adapt its work intake process.  While this is encouraging, many business units (IT customers) haven't fully bought into the new development processes.  At the same time Premera has been adopting new development practice, it has also poured a great deal of money in to modernizing its infrastructure including updating or replacing many internal systems with more current technologies, thus increasing the opportunity to work on more modern projects.  Premera has also adopted and implemented the open office concept with low walls, high visibility, collaboration areas, etc.  In my experience this has been a net productivity killer.

For the developer, daily work typically encompasses requesting or providing information to numerous internal IT departments (read: email), analyzing impacts of proposed changes, sprint ceremonies, some development work, some production support work, coordination with QA (more email) and managing migrations to various development, testing, UAT, and production environments.

Ultimately there are many opportunities to have a direct, measurable impact on the company.  After laboring through the process, deploying a much needed change or rolling out a new, better designed system seems to make it all worth it.

Again and again, gushing / glowing reviews are placed on this site,  mostly by ex-employees, extolling the virtues and benefits of working at Premera !!

These ex-employees however, never explain why they left, or give flimsy reasons for their departure, which stretch credulity.

If this is truly a great company to work for why would anyone leave at all ?

If Premera is truly a great place to start a career, why did these ex-employees not stay and make a great career that they could've had, according to their claims ?

In this economy, who in their sane mind would leave a supposedly good place with a great career potential and friendly management with great benefits, for unknown and uncharted domains where career paths and management friendliness may not be as conducive ?!!

It is patently obvious that many of the glowing reviews on this forum are simply an attempt to portray Premera in brighter, better colors than it deserves, in order to get people to apply for positions that the company is finding very hard to fill due to their reputation. The sheer number of positions available to be filled, gives a true picture of the state of affairs.

Additionally, this company has had it's computers hacked and ALL the personnel information of their current and former employees  stolen, including that of employees' dependents !!

Premera did not only NOT apologise for this stupendous data breach due to their sheer carelessness / shoddy work, but also simply washed their hands of all responsibility while providing just 2 years of credit monitoring service. They do not care about what happens to people who get affected after / beyond 2 years.

Poor accountability and work ethics are rampant as can be seen when the company did not even realize it's systems had been hacked and then took over 6 months to inform the affected parties even when the law requires immediate disclosure of such breach of personal information.

If this is how Premera barefacedly and shamelessly violates FEDERAL disclosure law with impunity, how would anyone expect it to treat it's employees or potential job seekers  ?

Even a cursory analysis puts in perspective, all the glowing reviews placed on this site !!!

If you have a choice, avoid working at Premera !!

The Good: I LOVED my team
-good pay
-benefits comparable to most other large companies
-telecommuting options for many positions
-usually easy to get assistance on difficult calls from junior supervisors.
-company makes an effort to put on morale boosters such as catered lunches, sports team rallies and team appreciation days.
-cafe's available on all campuses

The Bad: Recent increase in junior supervisors who are ill-qualified for the position
-increased duties without increased pay, 
-CSR's are expected to resolve issues for other departments without being trained as specialists for those. (example: prior authorizations, medical claims)
-inconsistent shifts.  "shift bids" are put out at random (sometimes you'll have the same shift for up to 7 months, sometimes 2 or 3)

The Ugly: Office politics are the sole basis for promotions and preferred shifts (varies by team)
-large amount of calls involve taking the heat for other departments mistakes and often fixing it for them.
-company spent a ton of money building a new location what wasn't needed, but will not pay to relocate another campus out of a drug and hooker infested part of town where pot smoke wafts through the vents all day. (it's so dangerous that overnight CSR's are REQUIRED to work from home for safety)


Typical day: Taking a very high volume of calls relating to medical benefits and eligibility, medical claims and billing questions.  Much of it involves translating benefits and policies into layman's terms and researching incorrectly processed claims. When call volumes are lighter, one half-hour per day may be given for any calls that need to be followed up on.

Most enjoyable part of the job: again, I LOVED my team!  They were just amazing to work with.  I also enjoyed the investigative part of the job, helping customers figure out how to fix claims issues. (3/4 of "this needs fixing calls" are for claims)

Hardest part: My team was one where promotions and good shifts revolved around office politics, misinformation and mismanagement from supervisors was rampant and micromanagement was heinous.

1. Employees are expected to work 60-70 hr weeks and often on weekends, yet are not paid OT under the pretext they are exempt. This is a thinly disguised way of getting one employee to shoulder a workload of 2 or more employees. A classic example of how this company indulges in burn and churn to squeeze the last dime out of everyone to maximize profits for the management.

2. Most of the people in management have are poorly educated or qualified for their position : A high school graduate was made a VP of technology though he had zero experience or understanding about technology.

3. Being ill qualified and/or educated, the management spend their time double/triple booking themselves in useless meetings, to give an appearence of being busy. They are never available for providing direction ( always in meetings ) and avoid taking any critical decisions ( CYA mode ).

4. Qualified and experienced people being more knowledgeable, are considered a threat by the management, and suppressed and frustrated until they leave.

5. Poor decision making causes massive losses which are covered up at the expense of employees ( there's no review and no bonus for those years ) yet the management still make their bonuses inspite of having taken these bad decisions themselves. 

6. The company makes several billions a year in revenue but does not provide even paper glasses, let alone tea or coffee, under the pretext that it costs too much. Employees are expected to purchase everything from the cafe.

7. The PTO is a joke : You get 2 weeks a year with vacation time deducted when closed for holidays, which effectively leaves just 1 week vacation per year. Anyone for healthy lifestyle and worklife balance ? You'd think a health insurance company would have health and well being of their employees' health uppermost. 

8. Do not be misled by the glowing tributes and repetitive five star reviews placed on this forum. Research this company before taking any decision.

9. If by any chance you do get placed with this company, you are best off not treating it like a career but merely a stop gap arrangement, until you find a better posting.

Working at Premera has been an exercise in frustration, disappointment, and watching a once-promising business circle the drain due to incompetent leadership. The executives and managers here have no clue how to lead, and their poor decisions are destroying morale, driving away talent, and tanking the company’s reputation.  

1. Clueless Leadership with No Vision 
The leadership team operates with **zero strategic direction**. Decisions are made reactively, often based on ego or short-term panic rather than actual business needs. There’s no transparency, no clear goals, and no accountability—just a constant cycle of blame-shifting and mismanagement.  

2. Toxic Culture Driven by Incompetence  
Instead of fostering growth, leaders micromanage, dismiss employee concerns, and ignore feedback. They promote a culture of favoritism and yes-men, while talented employees who speak up are sidelined or pushed out. The result? Massive turnover, plummeting morale, and a workforce that’s completely disengaged.  

3. Declining Reputation & Lost Trust  
Clients and partners are starting to notice the chaos. Missed deadlines, broken promises, and amateurish decision-making have eroded trust. The company’s reputation—once strong—is now a laughingstock in the industry, and leadership refuses to take responsibility.  

4. No Hope for Improvement  
The worst part?  Leadership refuses to change.  They’re either oblivious to the damage they’re causing or too arrogant to admit failure. Until there’s a complete overhaul at the top, this company will continue its downward spiral.  

**Final Verdict: Avoid or Escape  
If you’re considering working here or doing business with this company, think twice. Unless leadership is replaced with competent, forward-thinking executives, this place is a sinking ship. Current employees—start planning your exit.  

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5) – Leadership is Actively Destroying the Company

Employees are crammed in tiny 5x5 cubicles, far away from any natural light, deep inside a warehouse-like building.

People are overburderned with tasks which cannot be expected to be completed even when working at top speed. So you are always behind on your deliverables which gives an opportunity to the management to write you up. You are expected to spend 10 hours on-site working at break-neck speed just to keep up.

Then, you get to carry your laptop home so you can continue working. By the way, you also get to be on-call for any system downtime so you can't even get a proper night's sleep.

Then you need to get back in early the next day so this can be repeated all over. Work/life balance ? What's that ?

Did I mention that the laptop is now required to be carried everywhere even on weekends when you are spending time with your family / friends ?

Woe to you if it's stolen. And if your car is broken into in the process, well thats too bad, you are on your own there. And we are writing you up for leaving the laptop in the car. And no, you can't leave it at your desk either....it's not safe !!

Oh, does this stress you out ? Do take a walk on a nearby trail. There have been cough! cough! "issues" reported so it's at your own risk.

By the way, another set of issues have piled up while you were out. Please ensure you resolve those before you leave for the day....or else !

You will be stressed and burnt out in less than a month, but this company cares only about squeezing employees dry and maximizing profits and bonuses for top level management who spend the entire day in useless meetings making a pretense of "doing something".

You'd do well to avoid this sorry excuse of a company.

Looking elsewhere actively.

It's hard to properly describe how disappointing my experience has been at Premera, on many levels.  While I met some great people in my time at Premera, I truly feel worse off professionally. Nearly half my team is job hunting right now, so it's not an isolated issue either. 

To avoid ranting, I would simply suggest Premera starts by addressing these 3 areas:

1) Premera's internal talent systems (performance management, comp structures, formal feedback processes) are not set up to develop or retain top talent, and you can see the gap it has created over the years. 
2) As someone who came from the healthcare industry, it has been a little shocking to see how little internal expertise there is about the industry at all levels.  Premera often hires people from other industries and doesn't offer any industry training, which helps explain their challenges in developing effective solutions for their mission- 'making healthcare work better'.
3) Leadership needs to find a way to get comfortable with taking risks, and learn how to execute effectively on major initiatives. The market is moving so much faster, and people at Premera are worried if we can keep up.  


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Customer service representative 11 salaries reported	$20.05 per hour
Software engineer 10 salaries reported	$101,300 per year
Actuary 1 salary reported	$113,650 per year
Information security analyst 3 salaries reported	$67,336 per year
Consultant 3 salaries reported	$96,441 per year

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