GEICO

• You are being paid money.
• Job security.
• Lots of opportunities for lateral movement to other departments (if you can live with the cons below).
• For IT positions, there's a sign-up bonus if you self-refer (otherwise, it's paid as a referral bonus).
• There are a couple of table tennis and foosball tables in the cafeteria (no XBoxes, sorry).

This review is for an IT position based off the Chevy Chase (aka HQ, aka Plaza) office. The reviews here are heavily diluted by sales and call center personnel, who aren't quite as spoiled and demanding as the IT posse. If I knew the things listed here, I probably wouldn't accept the offer in the first place. I hope this will save someone some time and effort. I'm doing my best to stick to the facts.

• There is at least one PAID water cooler at GEICO. Yes, I'm being serious. Some people may stop reading the review here and I can't blame them. This will probably answer any questions you may have about snacks, coffee, soda, etc. Tap water is free and abundant (at the time of this writing).

• On a somewhat related note, GEICO, quote, "doesn't provide headsets for laptops," unquote.

• You have to clock-in and clock-out when you arrive and leave. I honestly haven't done this since working as a lifeguard while at school. There are turnstile gates and revolving doors. They may tell you that this is for security purposes only and they want to be sure everyone has left the building in case of an emergency, but your supervisor and HR do have access to your ins and outs and are not afraid to use it.

• Although GEICO positions itself as a "family friendly" company, it offers zero maternity/paternity benefits. Also, it's the only employer in my career that is open on Friday after Thanksgiving.

• GEICO is very proud of its "Total rewards" (tm, patent pending) benefits package. The truth is, it is average. You get three health plans (high deductible, low deductible and HMO/Kaiser), two FSA options, a good dental plan, a number of life/travel/ADND coverage options, PTO, and some minor stuff like employee discounts at various vendors. However, your benefits will not start on your first day. They won't even start on the 1st of next month or on day 30. GEICO apparently has some trust issues, so your benefits will kick in 70-86 days after your start (depending on your start date). Similarly, you start accruing PTO on your first day but can't use it for six months. Nothing fancy and excessive you may see at other IT companies like "unlimited PTO," free food, or stork money, etc.

• GEICO's profit sharing plan deserves a separate bullet in this list. It's a replacement for both 401(k) match (which GEICO doesn't have) and bonus incentive. The way it works is: every year, based on overall company performance (and not your personal one), the management sets a profit-sharing number at a certain percentage of everyone's annual salary. Associates are actually not allowed to disclose the exact number because this may upset some clients who got a rate increase and such. Well, let's assume that last year this number was set to 17% (an entirely fictional number I just came up with) and your salary is 100K. You get 10K (first 10%) to your retirement plan and 7K goes to you as cash payout (17-10=7%). It looks pretty good; however, you should know that your 10% retirement contribution becomes fully vested after SIX YEARS of your service.

• The pay is ok and not very generous as some people claim here. I got a 5K bump compared to my previous job, and my new one is 5K above that, which places GEICO in a reasonable mid-market range.

• There are "designated cell phone areas" around the building, contributing to the "corporate prison" atmosphere. The HR training specifically mentions that you are not allowed to take pictures on premises, and if you have an event you'd like to have documented, you have to invite a representative of a marketing team who is trained to ensure all sensitive information is removed prior to releasing photos. (Again, I'm dead serious. The HR training also specifically mentioned not to attempt to take a selfie with Warren Buffet should you encounter him on campus.)

• A few more examples of signs posted to give you a better sense of GEICO's corporate culture: "WARNING. Taking food NOT belonging to you is considered STEALING. Security will be monitoring the area." Another one: "The TONE ZONE is a CONTROLLED ACCESS AREA. Please keep the door closed at all times. Your privileges will be revoked if you are seen blocking the door open or allowing any unauthorized users to enter the TONE ZONE. Thank you" (this is verbatim). I will leave it for you to interpret the language and connotations.

• You should lock your laptops when you leave them in the building overnight using the Kensington-type locks provided. Although this is pretty common practice, I was told that here security officers enforce this policy by sneaking through the cubes and reporting violators (instead of doing their actual job - which is to prevent theft of said laptops), and you may be called to HR if you don't.

• GEICO doesn't believe in telecommuting. There are about 7 employees who are working remotely on a regular basis (out of 38,000). Occasionally it is allowed, but rarely.

• You need approval to install anything on your computer. I requested permission for a popular free GIT client on 11/9, and the target date for the decision was set to mid-December. Same for anything else you can think of if it hasn't been previously approved. Yes, we have access to production databases with people's social security numbers, but can't install Greenshot.

• I've seen some reviews mentioning "cutting edge" technology (there is also a very funny, obviously "sponsored" article comparing GEICO IT to Apple in terms of potential employment). Well, it's the end of 2017, and I was given a Windows 7 laptop, Office 2010, and MS Office Communicator 2007 R2 (no Slack, HipChat, MatterMost, or anything of that sort). There's also a mainframe which is being actively used. You can decide how cutting edge this is.

• Internet access is proxied, and LOTS of websites are blocked. I mean, I would expect to have adult and file-sharing sites blocked - this is standard. But this also applies to categories such as politics, travel (you actually have to check a checkbox confirming this is business-related), or simply a perfectly legit work-related website that has a "low web reputation score." Why can't you just trust your employees at least a little bit? Download speeds will remind you of that 1.5Mbps DSL you had in 2005.

• There is a dress code. Basically, it's business casual, and you will be given a PDF brochure listing what to wear and not to wear (not quite Apple, huh?). Also, sometimes teams and individuals are allowed to wear jeans as a positive reinforcement for meeting performance goals, winning a competition, donating blood, etc. This is the saddest incentive I've seen in my life.

• I had to submit FOUR timekeeping reports - Workday time-sheet, MS Project time-sheet, VSTS user stories, and a daily email report to my supervisor. To be fair, you don't have to touch Workday if you worked a full week without absences, and the daily email report is only required during the first two months.

• The building was built in 1960 and looks a lot like a hospital. This isn't a big deal, but those of you coming from trophy office spaces of Reston or A-class offices in downtown may be slightly disappointed. If you apply now, you may still see the old elevators with hand cranks; those are being replaced. Restroom stalls are about 2 x 2', and your work place will be slightly larger than that (they got rid of cubicles and now most of the building is open space rows of tables). You will often kick the person sitting on the opposite side of the row. He or she may reciprocate by kicking you. This fosters teamwork and collaboration.

• There is dry law here. All events are strictly alcohol-free, and you are repeatedly told you can't have a glass of wine with your lunch (as if you are a college freshman with binge issues). As with everything else listed above, this is enforced. This isn't a big deal by itself, but it underlines overall trust issues.

• GEICO is my only employer where, after submitting my resignation, I was ESCORTED out of the building. :)

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