GEICO GEICO Uses Psycological Techniques On Its Employees Chevy Chase, Maryland
Many victims of psychological harassment suffer from physical ailments, irritability, anxiety, nervousness, insomnia, stress, fatigue, depressive states, burn outs, and in some cases suicide. Many are unable to continue working and suffer financial loss. In some cases the causes are over work, unrealistic work demands, withholding information and resources, arbitrary removal of responsibilities, public humiliation, consistent over time, lack of professional autonomy, favoritism and nepotism, excessive competitive work environment, disorganized working conditions, ambiguous tasks or contradictory tasks, tasks that are deprived of purpose, constant threats of dismissal, leadership styles, lack of communication, and intimidation. Violence has different forms: Physical and Psychological. Many safe guards have been put in place to prevent physical violence in our society but few if any exist to prevent psychological violence. Psychological Harassment has many forms: the most common being verbal abuse. Some tactics aim at trying to humiliate or weaken the morale of individuals or groups. Mobbing also referred to by some as Bullying, psychological terrorism, and organizational violence is described as a collective form of psychological violence in which many individuals unite to persecute an individual by making constant negative remarks, repeated criticism or sarcasm, intimidation, threats, insinuations, try to humiliate, circulate false information concerning the individual, and to socially isolate the individual. Mobbing is a way of destroying a person without using any physical means, a psychological war of nerves with wear the individual out tactics. A group attacks an individual's dignity, integrity, self-image, self-confidence, self-esteem, place in doubt of competence, threaten their careers, and means of subsistence. One method used to induce distress or suffering in a person is by systematically isolating them from their peers. After a few months some victims can suffer from psychiatric difficulties such as paranoia, chronic fatigue, loss of self-esteem and self-confidence, and depression. "A tactic that is sometimes used, to break a person down psychologically and physically, is to induce as much stress as possible for a long period of time." This tactic is often used to cause macromineral deficiencies and acid-base disorders in the victim. One tactic is to attack or upset, emotional or mood change, the victim early in the day or morning. This can set the mood or have a lasting effect through out the day. (see Negative Conditioning) Another tactic is to attack or upset the victim late in the work day on Fridays just before a restful weekend. This has the effect of causing the victim to think or worry, anxiety, about the attack or event through out the weekend.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
#1adjuster
Wilmington,North Carolina,
Out of Kool Aid
#6UPDATE Employee
Fri, September 20, 2013
First of all let me start by saying I have worked for GEICO as a "Resident Adjuster II" for almost 9 years. It would be impossible for anyone to have loved working for a company more than I did GEICO the first 2-3 years of my employment. I have never seen a company change like I have this company.
I remember GEICO announcing we had passed Progressive for the 3rd largest insurance company and had 8 million PIF (policies in force). Were now in excess of 12 million and the number of field adjusters in Region 7 has only increased by 2.2% (that is straight from human resources during a confidential conversation) and to top that GEICO has lost more field adjusters in the past 6 months than in most 24 month period.
My supervisor and manager have both acknowledged that the company is so far behind the curve in hiring to meet the demand that it will take at least 18-24 months before any improvement will be noticed. The work load is totally out of control and the increase in pointless processes that continue to be added to the worl load of field adjusters is unbelievable.
A coworker recently compared it to working for a circus but another coworker was quick to say that analogy was unfair to the circus. Field adjusters have been turned into robots with micro management so extreme that practically all conversations with customers is controlled by word tracks. We are being encouraged not to report overtime as it will "only cause your productivity expectations to increase and since the overtime pay rate is the Chinese overtime, it will have little impact on your paycheck if you do report it".
Were being encouraged to underpay claims if we feel the customer will not repair the car in hopes they will cash the check without ever knowing they were underpaid and if they do figure it out we will pay the additional amount on a supplement! The company is all about the bottom line and nothing more, there is no personal life if you work for GEICO. I have not spoken with any associate regardless of department that has not admitted to being stressed to the max and completely miserable.
The one thing working in GEICO's favor is the fact that there are very few jobs available in this industry so associates feel trapped. The CEO even made the comment at a recent claims convention that this job may not be for everyone and if it was not for you that you would need to seek employment elsewhere.
This company could care less about associates! I have had the opportunity to read several resignation letters in recent weeks and it is truly sad to see such skilled adjusters leaving GEICO, many without a job lined up and also everal with a lot of years walking away from their pension just to save their marriages or health as working the extreme long hours and the high level of stress has taken a serious toll on both.
I would like to add that I am consistently in the top 10% of adjusters in regards to CSS and our core metrics so I am not simply someone that cannot handle the job.
bellasd
United States of AmericaWiki Cut and Paste?
#6UPDATE Employee
Sat, January 16, 2010
Did you have any specific examples of these things?
It seems to me that being an "ex-employee" you may have had issues meeting the agressive customer service quality goals or the efficiency goals GEICO has set for it's agents.
GEICO's service job is not an easy job; it's not for everyone. Appropriately, our agents are well compensated for meeting and exceeding these goals. (Most do, BTW.)
GEICO offers profit sharing, comprehensive benefits and job security (they NEVER lay off) in a uncertain time. But you know this, that's why you took the job in the first place, correct? That and the more-than-fair starting wage you got, even while GEICO was paying to get you licensed (most companies don't pay for this, either) and training you? Where else can someone with a HS diploma make that kind of money, right? But nothing worth anything is easy.
EVERY job requirement can be backed up by a reason, or more often a hard statistic or state insurance law. GEICO constantly reviews it's handling practices to improve them. WHy would a company pay an employee to waste it's time by requiring them to perform "ambiguous tasks or contradictory tasks, tasks that are deprived of purpose"? The company would be in the weeds, my friend.
As an employee, not a representative or a part of management I can tell you It's not an easy job and we do get constant "crticism" (coaching to keep us up on how to adhere to state guidelines that change all of the time and suggestions to help meet our goals) some people can't take this on the daily. Those people should probably look for a job that works better for them.
Ex-employee
Woodbury,New York,
USA
GEICO Only Cares About The Bottom Line
#6Author of original report
Fri, November 06, 2009
I'm sure GEICO has more than 2 individuals at corporate trying to do damage control on the worldwide web. They like to use fear and intimidation, or they will just blow you off. Doesn't matter if you are a claimant or an employee. Never anything bad in the media about GEICO, thanks to the owner being one of the richest men in the world. Try switching to Allstate, or another company, to be get rid of this evil monkey off your back.
Abused from woodbury, ny
Woodbury,New York,
U.S.A.
I AGREE ALSO
#6Consumer Comment
Wed, November 04, 2009
If you look at "do you want to know the truth about Geico? " would I be correct in thinking that I encountered the two Geico people that you described ?
Ex-employee
Tuscon,Arizona,
USA
I Agree
#6
Tue, September 01, 2009
GEICO is an evil and greedy company that hides behind its innocent mascot on TV ads. Go to jobvent and type in GEICO insurance. Just like on this website, they will make false postings and they have 2 individuals that go by "Dels" and "Claim #" to respond to everything and to make GEICO out that it is a better company than it is.
To all the claimants that felt ganged up on ripoffreport.com for voicing an opinion, think about it. What current employee or GEICO customer would constantly monitor this website and badmouth the person who posts on here? I like my insurance company (it isn't GEICO) and I don't follow what other people say about it. And I can guarantee the typical GEICO employee that sits in a cubicle on wearing headset isn't going to spend their free time monitoring what people say on ripoffreport.com.