Unfortunately, when I first started working there, I would have said that there were very few downsides to working there, however as the years passed, I was able to say this less and less. One of the major downsides for working at Allstate is that there are far too many hands in the cookie jar in far too many places, which doesn't leave much room for things to operate very efficiently. It is advertised within the company that the different departments within the company are in place to ensure that things happen more efficiently, however that leaves far too many people depending on other departments to do their job or answer any questions you may have for this to work properly. And it seems that while the company is so large, there are never enough people to allow for people to both do their job and answer the questions that need to be answered. So due to this, corners are cut, things are not properly documented, things are rushed through too quickly and end up having to be sent back due to errors and it creates mass chaos for not only that one person who cut that corner, but for everyone down the line that was/is waiting on them not now correct their error.
Another thing that does not help is the time restraints that are put on processing items. The managers in these areas have lofty ideas as far as how long the turn around time should be for different items to be processed, however when there are hiring freezes, cutbacks in employees and overtime is disallowed, it makes these turn around times almost impossible to achieve. When I first started with the company, the idea was to 'exceed the expectation' and the turn around times in processing areas was a reasonable amount of time, but was almost always exceeded, leaving our customers and agents both very pleased and the employees content. Then when competitive strategy came into play and it was suddenly more about beating out the processing times of other companies, suddenly you are dealing with angry customers, agents an other in-house employees, because you aren't able to complete things in the time frame that the company as a whole is now advertising, leaving the employees completely deflated, frustrated and feeling like they can never catch up.
When it comes to career opportunities, currently, there really are none in most area's due to hiring freezes. Which bring up another issue... OUTSOURCING!! While I completely understand that with the economy the way it is today, it is much cheaper and cost effective to pay someone in another country to do the same jobs that you are currently having to pay competitive salaries and wages for... HOW IS THIS HELPING THE US ECONOMY! By them taking away all of these jobs they are furthering the economy in other countries and moving several hundred 'valued employees' into the unemployment line looking for other work with potentially a limited skill set, depending on what area's of the company they have worked and what opportunities have been available to them.
Personally, I currently could not recommend Allstate and it's affiliates as a good/sound place to work, because you really never know if the job you have is a secure one, or if next week they'll tell you that they have decided to 'outsource' your job.
