Customer Service Representative | Houston, TX | May 10, 2021
I do not recommend working for Aetna/CVS
Starting pay $16.00 an hour. The raises are small and you have to assist in many projects before you can see a little bit of a raise. In two years you “may” see an increase to $17.00. Expensive insurance with High deductibles and co-insurance on all packages . The Benefits here are the same as the Market Place insurance. The benefits are a major disappointment. HSA is given, but be mindful as CVS can comeback to collect it. You will operate 10 to 15 systems, call volume is about 45 to 60 calls a day, maybe a little more. There is constant switching between old and new systems without ant warning. No mentor/assistance line. Quality still scores you unfairly. They are very strict on Metics and If you receive a low score you just have to accept it on both quality and customer feedback. They will advise you that you can appeal, but they never change scoring. They will take you through the entire appeal process which is exhausting only to tell you a low score is upheld based on their reasoning. They have A strict schedule and metric system. Two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch. “Occurrences”...they work off a point system. They give you 12 occurrences (call outs). The attendance policy is not easy to locate. You have to ask. 1 week missed with consecutive days equal one occurrence, any breaks into between the days will count as per occurrence. Your supervisor may work with you, but realistically there is no room to take time off according to when you need the days. You can’
ProsWAH
ConsHorrible Benefits, Low Pay, High Turnover, No support
You will be hired regardless of ability, skill level, high school diploma would suffice. If you are unskilled or uneducated this is a high wage.
Aside from being emotionally draining, this job can be very comfortable as it is work from home your hours will always be a 9-hour shift between 8am to 6pm. You will also get 3 weeks PTO and paid holidays.
If you are looking for a job that offers advancement, this may not be for you as there are limited opportunities, they don't look to promote because they hired you for THIS job, and are desperate for employees due to a massive turnover rate.
I'm not sure what our supervisors do all day, now that we are working from home I question what takes up all of their time where they are slow to answer our questions or concerns unless someone is breathing down their back from call management about why we didn't do something.
Although we had a 4-month long training, it doesn't really set you up or allow you to retain all the information needed for the job, you'll learn most of it as you go along or they will tell you about mistakes you made. A minor mistake will cause you to fail call quality for the month that you may have forgotten from training or not even been taught at all.
Many colleagues are not up to par and make mistakes or give misinformation that you have to clean up. As well as bearing the wrath of customers for mistakes made by other departments such as claims, appeals. Information about the plans isn't always updated or accu
Prospto, work from home, good pay for unskilled/uneducated workers.
Conslittle room for growth, unreasonable/controllable expectations
Aetna is a great place to work if you are a "Beloved".
Aetna allows for telecommuting, which is nice. They keep up to date on all of the buzzword/phrases. (Work/Life balance is currently very much in vogue there.) If you are a Beloved, then you will be able to pick your nose in public and be given gratuitous praise. If you are an "Invisible", (a work at home with a disinterested supervisor) then you can expect to be given a "meets expectation" on your yearly review even if you have exceeded their benchmarks. An "exceeds expectation" is reserved for Jesus Christ and the Beloveds. The only time people will take any interest in you is if an issue comes up. The issues basically stem from the enormous amount of documentation that you are expected to acquire in order to approve the claim. At Aetna, the "process" is more important than processing claims. So you will either: make numerous attempts to acquire MRI and Cat Scan results (and if the claimant has Aetna Medical, it is a wild goose chase since they will not approve the tests until conservative treatment has failed) or you can demand that your claimant gather submit the clinical. This is can be difficult if the said claimant is in a coma or in a mental institution. Many folks choose the second method since requesting clinical gets in the way of maintaining a two day turnaround time. And they get to close out a claim, which saves time at the end of the month because you will be ordered to close claims two weeks past their approval date. If an issue is raised to your supervis
ProsAbility to work from home, yearly bonus
ConsEverything else.
3.0
Customer Service Representative | Sunrise, FL | May 1, 2019
Better for young adults
Working at Aetna was interesting. I enjoy speaking to members about their benefits and out of pocket expenses. Each state has its own way of how the benefits work. Other Customer Service Reps were friendly, there were a few favoritisms as most jobs do, but they were cool. Now to the cons, Insurance for an employee is expensive, and the deductible is too high. Supervisors don't do anything. Always on their cell phones. They avoid as much as possible to not talk on the phone with a member even when it is requested/demanded by that member. They have a next help which is another CS Rep in which they call them, SME, (pronounced "s'meee"). They will do most of the work to assist you when having trouble. You can advise the member if they want to speak with a SME, but most of the time they want to talk directly for one. There are times where I would wait about 30 minutes to almost an hour waiting for a supervisor to take the call, even before and after a SME tries to deescalate the situation. BOTTOM LINE: Supervisors do not want to take the call. All they do all day is walking around making sure you are on the phone. They are friendly and understandable, but not so much. Our call flow is run by Workforce Management, those who know it as WFO. Whenever you are out of adherence you will have to put in a segment to cover that, most of the times they do not approve it.
I received one 15min break in the morning, a 30 min lunch break, and at the end of the day another 15 min break. I work
ProsGreat pay, benefits, PTO, Mon-Fri
ConsShort Lunch Breaks, No supervisor help, manager is always in his office and meetings
4.0
Customer Service Representative | United States | Dec 8, 2018
Overall good company to work for, I just don't like my current job.
I think that Aetna is a decent company to work for right now, I am concerned however about the recent acquisition by CVS and how that will affect benefits and vacation time in the future. How much you like this employer really just depends on what job you have. Being on the phones all day chained to your desk and having every minute be accounted for does get pretty stressful, but that is just the nature of the job. There are many other jobs that do not involve being on the phone as well, that I assume are not as stressful. They do provide with the resources necessary to do the job efficiently, the internet is fast and you have dual monitors because you have a lot of programs to open.
I think that it is overall a good place to work. The management is aware of how difficult our job can be and how hard we work to service the providers and responds as such. I think we get a free lunch like once a month, and various other little things to show appreciation. You can decorate your cube however you want (within reason) and its just a very friendly atmosphere. We have team meeting everyday and you are never afraid to ask for help or voice your opinion. I don't feel like a faceless drone, they seem committed to helping you succeed and don't just give up on you right away like some employers. If you are good at what you do there is opportunity for advancement or to move to another department since it is such a big company, so it is nice knowing that you don't have to be stuck where
ProsPay, hours, PTO. They seem to value employees which is rare for a big company.
ConsCan be very stressful if your job is on the phones, insurance benefits aren't as good as you would think they would be.
4.0
Member Services Representative | Phoenix, AZ | Dec 3, 2020
Great for those who likes phones, fast at learning & doesn't need a lot of oversight
I worked in the after-hours call center for Medicaid services & was comfortable with my immediate supervisor & co workers. The environment is chaotic when it's busy for the first half of the shift, but is laxed when it slows down. The job was very redundant in many ways, but you also learned something new, or information changed, on a weekly, if not, daily basis. You will have to handle many callers who are rude, mentally ill, or have cognitive issues. You will also have to work between multiple monitors, systems, browsers & documents, while entering notes about your call & speaking with your customer. This can be challenging when it gets busy; however, you normally get down time later in the evening, where you can play catch up. The department is somewhat unorganized with training & inconsistent with information that is needed to properly serve members...sometimes one Lead or Supervisor will say one thing, while another supervisor will say another. You will have to learn to find answers on your own, or seek out subject matter experts. The QA department didn't seem to be in sync with the directives that the customer service reps were given, resulting on customer service reps being marked off for quality issues that they should not have been marked off for. Upper management wasn't really active with the after hours department...we used to call ourselves the stepsister call center, because that's how many reps felt at times. Management within the department is 50/50...you ha
Proslax environment half of the time, benefits, work from home, friendly co workers
Consinformational inconsistencies, lack of advancement, redundant work, unorganized training
3.0
Customer Service Representative | New Albany, OH | Nov 21, 2017
Excellent work environment when I started, but increasingly micromanaged.
regarding sick days, Aetna works on a PTO program. You are given a certain number of days off per year (number depending on how long you been there). You can use them for sickness or vacation, Aetna doesn't care. So the question about number of sick days can't really be answered. When I started at Aetna things were very casual. As long as you got your work completed you didn't have problems. Increasingly it seems they have developed tools to keep track of what you are doing. For instance, they actually have a program that tracks every keystroke on your computer to make sure that you are constantly working during your scheduled time. God forbid you take a minute to compose yourself or relax after a difficult phone call. Mine was a phone job so you go in and calls are sent to you for resolution. Generally they do not have enough people on the phones so the calls are constant with no break in between. You are expected to complete calls within six minutes which is simply not reasonable given the complexities of health care issues. It can take two to three minutes just to get the caller's name and account number and a description of the problem to be resolved. This unreasonable time limit is probably the major contributing factor to the huge stress factor of the job. This is further complicated by constantly changing coverage policies. One week we might cover a procedure. The next week we don't. Then a month later we might cover it again. This means you can't cou
ProsHealthcare available. Excellent pay with a starting wage of $16. Weekends, evenings and holidays off with pay.
Consvery inflexible schedule for my position, work goals that I felt were unrealistic given the complexity of health insuance concerns, very stressful.
This company celebrates diversity in a way I completely respect.
I love the work I do because I get to handle claims issues for transplant recipients, and I care about how their claims are handled. I am expected to produce a minimum of 55 claims paid per day. Sometimes that is not possible if a transplant event claims package is being reviewed.
I have learned a lot about mentoring, communication, and how to handle difficult people. I have learned more about how to approach diversity here than I ever expected. There is an expectation here that we all practice professionalism and mutual respect, and for the most part, all employees adhere to those expectations. I have also learned quite a bit about the importance of compliance to policies and privacy matters.
My major issues are with upper level management (not my immediate managers), who expect perfection but do not understand the complexity of the work we do. Most of them (if not all of them) have never paid a medical or hospital claim in their lives, but expect us to never make mistakes. I feel this way because if a mistake is made, then the upper level micro-managers require multiple meetings to explain the reasons why the mistake was made. They like to beat the dead horse so to speak. Peer assistance is nice, but cannot be counted on or expected. I'm basically on my own.
The hardest part of this job is the lack of collaboration between departments. I am expected to make decisions, but if my decisions are not agreed to by someone in another department who wants to check my work, then
Prosi get to work from home.
Consextremely high deductible health plans, exorbitant copays for maintenance meds, unreasonable expectations from upper management who do not understand the complexity of the work
I work I️n the UM Management Dept as a Precertifications Specialist in CA. It’s a very very very busy and fast paced work environment. Your work day consists of being on the phones from the time you clock in til the time you clock out. This job can be really stressful and mentally exhausting. What makes it even more frustrating is they score 5 of the phone calls you made in a month and rate it on a points system. You’re pretty much failing if you score less than 96 points, which in turn counts toward how much of a raise you will receive at the end of the year. You get dinged on pretty much EVERYTHING. I️t gets pretty tiring and disappointing when you know you have excellent customer service skills but forget to say this or ask the caller that or you forgot to check that box before documenting. If there’s one thing I️ could change, it would be auditing our calls and rating it on a points system. I’d rather just have them tell us what we could have done better when handling a call like that.
Aside from the stressors of the job itself, I️ enjoy working with my coworkers and the people who are on the same team as me. Everyone gets along. My supervisor is awesome. He’s really understanding and definitely looks out for our best interest. He’s definitely someone I️ can reach out to for any questions or concerns I️ may have.
My biggest concern is the job advancement and growth with Aetna. When I was hired I️ was told they are company who is big on employee growth and advancement. I
ProsWorking from home, coworkers, manager
ConsNo growth/advancement, low pay
1.0
Disability Intake & Service | Plantation, FL | Feb 5, 2015
Pass the buck takes on a whole new meaning
I was at Aetna for 2 years and it started bad and quickly went downhill. First was waling in the door there was little to no organization. Training for a new employee was going through a web automated presentation and receiving a checklist of things you were responsible for doing in your first 30 days. Any questions? Call HR who has no clue most of the time. (they're outourced)
Aetna is a business where the right hand and the left hand sort of know what each other are doing but choose to ignore it because they are too concerned about their department and how they look. So much of the business is broken and new employees start wanting to make a good impression but quickly learn to ignore what is broken because no one will do anything to fix it anyway. a perfect example is their internal website of "stuff". There are processes and instructions littered throughout it that refer to a given process policy or procedure that haven't been used for years. Yet bring it up to anyone and they will ask what you were doing there and why weren't you going here? (DUH I'm new and don't know where to do so I used the search and this is what I found)
Customers call to ask about their claim which isn't fully documented so they want to talk to the benefit specialist who doesn't want to talk to them so the call goes to voice mail, or the person answers the phone and tells you why you should answer the call with information that isn't documented anywhere in the employee request. T
Prosdecent salary
Conshealth benefits, work life balance, training, internal structure, management inconsistency
Questions And Answers about Aetna
How long does it take to get hired from start to finish at Aetna, a CVS Health Company? What are the steps along the way?
Asked Jul 6, 2016
I was given my first interview today and I will have my 2nd tomorrow but I was already given a possible start date and was told the training is 12 weeks long.
Answered Jun 24, 2021
As far as a Health Concierge in High point I applied July 16th had a phone interview 8/16, schedule for a face to face same day for 8/20, offered position 9/3
Answered Sep 4, 2019
How are the working hours at Aetna, a CVS Health Company?
Asked Jun 20, 2016
Very flexible in my dept, but I work on a very strong team, and there is trust between our director and team
Answered Sep 12, 2021
In my department very flexible
Answered Oct 15, 2020
How did you get your first interview at Aetna, a CVS Health Company?
Asked Jul 11, 2016
Applied on indeed, was referred to the website. A week later I had a phone interview. After I passed the phone interview I was given a face to face. After that I waited 2 weeks and was given an offer. I applied to this company 5 times before getting an interview.
Answered Jul 22, 2020
My interview was great, kinda nervous because of 2 people being in the room but they liked me.
Answered Oct 1, 2019
If you were to leave Aetna, a CVS Health Company, what would be the reason?
Asked Mar 20, 2017
Lack of accountability for those at the Director level, which leads to more work for anyone whose work depends on them doing their jobs correctly.
Answered Mar 3, 2021
I am a current employee actively seeking employment elsewhere. Management is awful. The expectation/volume of work your given is unrealistic then add in: the constant interruption of emails/IMs from management expecting an immediate response, providing coverage for coworkers on PTO, meetings/rounds/mandatory training modules... you basically have 10 hours of work and 5-6 hours to do it. The supervisors/managers have never done the work of the people they supervise so they don't understand the challenges, nor do they care. They just expect it to get done so you end up working long hours and you are salary. They are now forcing overtime on evenings, weekend, and yes HOLIDAYS! There is very little work/life balance. They like to micro manage. Not only do you have to do your work, they expect you to send them a report detailing the work you have done. Slackers are not held accountable, Team Lead and Supervisor is useless and don't/can't answer questions. They have favorites as the less favored are dumped on. They are not interested in any ideas to improve processes. Aetna/CVS focus is on saving money and they could care less about the health and well being of the employee or the members. Prior to the fall of 2018 it was a decent company to work for but now its total stress and only gets worse by the day!
Answered Aug 1, 2020
What benefits does Aetna, a CVS Health Company offer?
Asked Jun 20, 2016
PTO. Holidays. Training. Advancement.
Answered Oct 22, 2020
High deductible plan with an FSA. Your monthly payment is based on your hourly wage, so the least you make the less you pay monthly depending on plan. 401k, education assistance, vision, pharmacy, LTST disability, etc
