Progressive Insurance lavishes its employees with perks

Mylar balloons welcome a newly hired employee to Progressive's offices in Mayfield Heights. The insurance company is hiring 324 people in Greater Cleveland as part of a nationwide effort to add nearly 1,000 to its workforce.

(Thomas Ondrey, The Plain Dealer)

MAYFIELD VILLAGE, Ohio -- Want to work with Flo? Progressive Insurance announced Tuesday that it is hiring nearly 1,000 people nationwide -- including 324 in Greater Cleveland -- by the end of 2014. Jobs are in IT, analyst, call centers, claims and corporate.

Progressive, which ranks No. 5 among large employers on The Plain Dealer's 100 Top Workplaces in Northeast Ohio, said the jobs include paid training, as well as medical, dental, vision and other insurance benefits, as well as access to compressed work weeks, onsite fitness centers and yoga classes.

In the five years The Plain Dealer has ranked the Top Workplaces in Northeast Ohio, Progressive is one of only 16 companies that have made the list every year.

Progressive also made Glassdoor's List of Top Companies for Culture & Values, as well as the Tampa Bay Times' list of Top Workplaces in Tampa, Florida.

Lynley Spoto Williams, director of recruiting, Progressive Insurance

"We refer to ourselves as a technology company that just happens to sell insurance," said Lynley Spoto Williams, director of recruiting. She said of the current openings, "a good part of it is turnover, but some of it is growth."

For the analysts jobs, "we are looking for people who really love math" and are excited by the prospect of working with 110 terabytes of data, she said. "There's no better way to apply your love of math than to be in an analyst's role."

For the IT programmers or developers, Progressive is looking for people interested in experimenting with big data technology who have strong experience with C#, .net and other programming languages. "It really is utopia for those technology folks," Williams said.

And for its call center roles, the company is looking for service representatives "to make connections with our customers, and help them with problems and billing," for sales representatives who can answer questions about rates and policies, and for claims representatives who can field calls from drivers who've been in accidents, "for everything from 'I've hit my fence' to 'I've been involved in a fatality," Williams said.

Some of the roles require property and casualty licenses, for which Progressive will offer training. Candidates who already have those licenses can get bonuses if hired. The call center jobs are in Mayfield Village, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Tampa, Florida; Austin, Texas, and Sacramento, California.

"Flo" (actress Stephanie Courtney) stars in Progressive Insurance's most enduring advertising campaign.

Mayfield Village-based Progressive, with 9,000 local employees, is known for its unusually generous workplace perks, including flexible work arrangements, letting employees work from home, performance bonuses, casual dress code, child-care subsidies and maternity services, employee resource groups, aerobics, spinning and yoga classes, and on-site medical facilities for employees and their families.

At its local campuses, employees can grab a meal in the cafeteria, at the weekly farmers' market, or in the snack shop, where they can also drop off their dry cleaning. They can lift weights in the fitness center, join the company's employee-organized jogging club, or take a Crossfit Metabolic Conditioning class out on the lawn.

"People countrywide are starting to learn what we already knew: Cleveland is a great place to live, work and play," said John Hoppes, national recruiting director at Progressive, in a written statement.

"We maintain a thriving company culture, and work to help each of our 26,000 employees carve out his or her own career path through on-the-job training and in-company networking, which is why we continue to attract top talent."

The marketing department at Progressive Insurance is filled with tributes to spokesmodel "Flo" and the kinds of things she might get a kick out of, such as this sparkly "I (heart) insurance" clutch and bejeweled pair of hi-tops.

According to a recent Cleveland State University study, Cleveland ranks No. 8 in the nation for the skill level of its young adult workforce. "Economists are projecting a bright future for Cleveland due to its growing talent pool and rising education levels -- positioning Progressive as a destination employer for the information economy," the company said.

Positions are currently available nationwide, including at Progressive's major locations in Florida, Texas, Arizona and California, as well as IT and analyst roles in Ohio and Colorado.

Progressive is also hosting two virtual career fairs on Sept. 23 and 24 for college students who want to talk directly with Progressive recruiters.

More information about the company's openings are at progressive.com/jobs.

Progressive, founded in 1937, offers insurance for personal and commercial cars and trucks, motorcycles, boats, and recreational vehicles, as well as home insurance through select carriers. It is the fourth largest auto insurer in America.

"We're all trying to create the kind of company that our iconic brand character Flo would like to work for," Jeff Charney, chief marketing officer at Progressive, said during a recent interview about the company's culture. "That's an extremely high standard."