Honestly, over the past year or two and with the focus on Underwriting Transformation, the idea of streamlining underwriting processes to make a better customer experience kind of pointed directly to less employees eventually.
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We have been creating a platform that agents will use as a search engine to look for guidelines, job aids and even COVID processing changes updated daily. That will eventually be edited and optimized enough (by underwriters who are currently handling agents call and learning what questions are being asked) that the need for agents to call in (or chat) with an actual underwriter will drastically fall. Like many jobs- AI is being designed to take the human out of customer service.
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While being trained to process in the moment for escalators and such- much of the operations work is done in India. It is impossible to communicate with someone when an error is made. BUT they are being trained to handle more processes. The reason AS continues to train current employees is solely to prevent the rumors from forming about large layoffs and to see if the need for a skeleton crew to continue updating these transformation strategies- but, in hindsight, if a company can be even more efficient (every employee knows what efficiency is- and stresses over it everyday) and they can be MORE efficient while shelling out LESS AND LESS money- it’s only natural stock holders will choose more money over employees. It’s business. And it’s everywhere. It just Allstate.
Unfortunately, we live in an economy that literally every single person is replaceable. We are not protected to keep a job. As much as it makes me nervous and I feel that allowing this time for speculation and rumors to build on sites like this is even more detrimental for employees. Being transparent about a decision that was made a year ago would be ideal. But- I’m reading that many heard from managers the such and such should be ok and lay-off will not effect many- history shows only a small amount. I can’t say, with as far Behind as Allstate is in technology offerings and optimized/ seamless customer experience from their direct competition, that this couldn’t possibly be the largest lay off in modern company history. But it’s all speculation, could be 2 people, could be 15,000. We don’t know- and since the company still needs help with a couple more program launches (to make AI more seamless) in the coming months- we won’t know. Again, welcome to business practices 101.
Praying for all Allstate employees- no ones job is safe, not even the boards. If I found a job at the end of last year, everyone can.