customer service representative

underwriter

claims processor

pricing analyst

media manager

Direct Line Group

When I started work at Direct Line Group in 2004, it was originally Royal Bank of Scotland.
Although I worked as an admin assistant I wasn't looking to progress at the time as it was the first job I ever had that I could feel secure in. I had two jobs before where the companies ideally wanted someone who could walk in and understand everything. Not so at RBS.
To start with things went really well, I was happy doing the same job I was doing. But as I got more and more confident I realised I wasn't getting anywhere jobwise. So I applied for a job on the phones as I was told that was the only chance of progression within RBS for an admin person. I never got it, of course.

A typical day at work - At the first site I sorted the incoming post, located the matching claims files with the post, did the filing and recorded figures for each day.

At the last site I worked at, I did a mixture of things as the team did roles in job groups. So each person got a mixed bag of roles if you like. These included sorting the incoming post, filing, recording daily figures, sending off letters to customers, setting diary dates for claims and dealing with PPI claims.

Management - I worked with my first boss for three years. I preferred her as she got things done and wasn't afraid to speak up for admin people.

I worked with my second boss for three years also (2007-2010) I did get on with her - she was fun, outgoing, made funny comments, but she had a small spat with another admin person, she got suspended and was never the same when she came back. The tension was like...you could cut a knife with it.

I worked with my third boss for just under two years. I did get on with her but she was very by the book. I came onto her team as a newbie but when another admin team moved over to her building she changed. I worked at another site because of this, but the other team leader I had for that was on a secondment (and I really liked working with her as she was quite fun!) and so my third boss was drafted in when her secondment was up. MAJOR SHOCK.

The co-workers - I get on with most people and so I've never had a bad word to say about any of them. One of them I worked with was my friend but then again you should never make friends with people inside of work as outside of work you see them for who they really are! I've been of that mind ever since.
A few of the people I've worked with were cliquey but that didn't mean to say I didn't get on with them. They included me in some stuff and they Facebooked me but you just take that with a pinch of salt.

The hardest part of my job - Having to go from a paper system to a paperless system. At the first two sites I worked at, we had paper files and we located and filed them. Working at the last site meant that the claims were all stored and worked on over an internal computer database package. So that meant going into a less active job role. Also working at the last site meant relying on a lot of spreadsheets for each job group. So there was one spreadsheet for claim form volumes we sent out each day, another for diary audits and another for daily incoming work. And some of the spreadsheets were password protected so you had a job to remember each password, especially when you haven't been on that job group for a while!

The most enjoyable part of my job - I enjoyed all of my job up to 2011 as I felt I had more of a purpose. By that I mean doing more to locate a file that the advisors on the phone wanted.
I also liked mentoring/coaching people and setting up training folders for the teams and taking part in some of the activities we as a company did. For example, we decorated the admin section for Halloween.

As with any organisation, your experience at DLG will depend on your line manager and the specific role you perform because there are so many roles in company like sales, marketing, under-writing, claims, actuarial, tech/ IT , risk etc. My personal experience in motor claims was up and down depending on who was my manager at the time. Few things to bear in mind, again, not everything I put here will be universal across DLG, some will be, again depending on your role and immediate management:

A.  Progression and pay rises are muted, if you are looking for 5-10% pay rises every year, this is not the place for you. Best off applying for investment banks / IT roles etc. Realistic pay rise if you are classed as good is in the region of 1-4%. 

B. The lower management  has become better under new CEO, more employee-centric and caring because CEO holds monthly calls with all employees and everyone is encouraged to share any concerns / views openly.

C.  Progression is very limited and only possible when you change roles completely . However, if you want a stable role with same remit year after year, this is the right place. Some middle / senior managers like praise and if you are the Yes person,  you may be in for a chance for progression. If you want to challenge middle managers, you may be denied progression even if you are competent. The ability to agree / say Yes to middle/ senior managers helps you even though your brain tells you to say No. 

D. Company is customer centric and that shows in external reviews of company, customers are treated like royalty and every effort is made to do the best for customer if possible. However, some departments like motor have recently lost a lot of people through redundancy / lay-offs and people wanting to progress by going elsewhere., this creates long queues for customers on phones.

E. The day job is interesting revolving around customer issues / questions regarding hire cars, repairs, liability. You get a really thorough understanding of motor claims after 2 years in role.

F. Company has introduced Virtual first culture during pandemic which is great for flexibility and employees have praised it. Coming into office is very rare because company actively promotes and wants people to work from home if possible because many sites have been decommissioned / sold off.  So, hybrid working actually means work from home most/all of the time. 

G. Company has a zero tolerance policy for inappropriate comments / behaviors, so employees  have to be very careful with words/ actions.

H. Future of the organisation looks better though with really responsive top management under New CEO from 2019 who is keen to make company more nimble and efficient by investing heavily in digital and data capabilities. 

After joining in 2015, I strongly believed Direct Line Group to be one of the "better" companies to work for, in terms of salary, workplace culture, company culture, and opportunity to develop my career. 

Now in 2021, as a former employee, I feel I can speak my mind without defensive responses from my now former employer, and place my thoughts on this platform for anyone who is contemplating applying to work for this organisation to see. 

1.) Poor management- there have been constant changes to processes with little improvement shown- the true impression that is shown to many employees, is that management always seem to be extremely reactive rather than being proactive. Whilst this is the case, management aggressively try and tell the frontline advisors to be proactive on a consistent daily basis, when they do not demonstrate these behaviours themselves. The end result is a negative feedback loop between employer and employee, causing low moral and damaged productivity.

2.) No opportunities to progress- This point is very brief. Since 2020, I have not had a single one to one that was centered around anything other than performance realted matters or process related matters- This links in with the first point above. Despite asking for opportunities centered around my strengths, the recurring answer was: "there is nothing available since the pandemic". One thing to stress about this point, is that the organisation had long since decided that working from home was going to be the preferred way of working going forward. If this is the case, then more consideration should have been given to employees with particular career aspirations, and the pandemic should not be used as an excuse.

3.) The company is gradually automating a lot of processes-This is likely the case for a lot of big companies however, whenever I raised the question about job security for the future and how automation may affect this, I was never given a convincing straight answer. This became an increasing concern of mine when a department close to mine was made redundant. 

4.) Sickly work culture- Whilst the above points were ongoing concerns, constant internal coms would be sent to my work inbox reminding me how "great it is to work here" and how we are all "superheros". This is incredibly toxic to read for a workforce who isn't completely satisfied with how things are being run. It also sends out mixed messages when there is so much emphasis on reactive behaviour by management which ultimately results in pointing the finger at advisors, rather than themselves.

5.) Status is taken more seriously rather than intelligence- simply put, if you are an intelligent advisor and you try to bring some real value to the workplace, you will not be listened to if someone higher up offers a counter suggestion, regardless of what the better option was.

6.) Poor salary- simply not competitive with the market. I was also lied to regarding my salary expectations and raised this with HR and management. Nothing was done despite giving them several chances, however it became too exhausting for me to challenge this long term.











The role of a claims advisor is to speak with customers that have called in to make an insurance claim. Training was a little rushed (and still is) but you do pick up a lot of your knowledge whilst working in the role. You will be speaking to some customers who have had a rough day (car accident/house fire), they need your help to get back things sorted and you'll need to log the claim for them whilst on the phone. Some calls will be difficult and you'll have to deliver bad news to some customers which can result in complaints. 

The hardest part about the job is the conversations you will be having with the customers. Some understand you are just doing your job and others will treat you as if you are the cause of their issues. My advice would be to always remember to do your best for them and not to take anything personal. 

The wage for a new starter is fantastic, it may not be the highest wage you can get at the moment however for the work you do its great. The more knowledgeable you become in your role you'll have opportunities to pick up additional work which can take you off the phones and increase opportunities elsewhere within department/business. However taking on additional workloads and tasks rarely equates to more pay just more work. You may also be asked to cross skill, initially this was to help other departments (travel/home/car insurance) when they're busy however its now becoming expected part of your role which increases your workloads. Many of the Team leaders and your colleagues aren't trained on these departments either which adds to the stress of what can already be busy role.

Many of my end of year performance reviews outlined my outstanding work but due to slight wage increases every year I didn't receive an actual bonus so my wage remained that of a new starters -  this is where DLG has let me down.

Progression isn't common and due to the amount of experienced  handlers within various departments there is always a handful of people you know applying for any role that increases pay (1 secondment role I applied for had 70 internal applicants) 

The workplace culture has changed massively since I started 2016 to now. It was a very 'Face fits' workplace but it has improved. There is a lot of diversity and a big push for this within the departments to support BAME & LGBTQ communities

Overall I have enjoyed my time at DLG but felt I haven't been rewarded for the hard work and energy I've put in. I would recommend anyone to apply, once successful in the role let DLG offer you opportunities to learn more about insurance/admin/customer service and then relax. If I could start over I would avoid picking up additional work and just focus on the main role - Pick up the phone, help the customer and then move onto the next call. Just doing this id be on the same wage I am now but mentally less exhausted.



When I first started in 2019, the stats weren't a big deal. As long as you could back up why your stats were higher, then you were fine. Such as, "You can see my outbound calls are higher this week as I had more chasing to do, which is why my aftercall time is higher." 
Now, however, they have thrown so many new processes and systems at us, given us a very short time to get used to it before telling us we need to get our Average Handling time down to 13 minutes- this means from the time we answer the phone to the time we next click available to take a new call.
This is an impossible thing to do, sometimes customers have a lot to discuss, sometimes there's five emails on the file to sort out, sometimes we have to get the file ready to pass to our solicitors, that itself takes more than 13 minutes let alone adding a call on top of that. 

DLG also quite recently let go of a whole department, the Recoveries team, and gave all their workload to my department, Damage Fulfilment. So on top of all that, we have double the work to do with no pay rise. And why don't we get a pay rise, because we don't fall in the bracket of work load. I'd hate to think how much work the next bracket does as I can't imagine it's more than my department as we liberally do everything. 

Now maybe I wouldn't mind as much if the holidays were processed better. A new process has come out for our holidays. We are expected to work 1 Saturday every 5 weeks. If we have plans on a Saturday we're scheduled to work usually we could just book it off using our holiday hours as long as there was availability for the holidays, although the team who authorises this usually waits until the week of to do this so there's no point in really having plans as it's very last minute that you'll find out. 

This new process however states we have to swap the Saturday with another handler working an alternative Saturday. Why? If there are hours available to book a holiday why can't we chose when to use it? 
Baring in mind for the whole month of June and July I haven't been able to book a single day off because there's no availability, so they're allowing people to book to capacity at the cost of people not getting time off but controlling Saturdays? It doesn't make sense. 

When we first started home working, they MADE us book one day off a month for our mental health, well what's happened to that? 
I've felt stressed to the max with the workload they've shoving on us and I wanted to book a day off as a break but I can't, the next available day isn't until August.
How can they make us book a day off and then change it now to we can't get time off for 2 months.

I will be looking for a better job ASAP

They start off with an excellent training programme where you feel supported and encouraged and then this all disappears when you start working your shifts properly.

You feel as if you're chained to your desk and have to answer phone calls back to back with not even a 1 second pause to catch your breath before moving on to another phone call that comes in. The calls begin automatically and you have no control over this. You are made to justify the reasons for taking "comfort breaks" even to go to the toilet. 

They preach that their service is "best for customer" and you are held accountable by customer feedback scores, however you are targeted on how much you speak while on a call and must say the bare minimum to meet this target which is totally counter productive to give good customer service. 

When working from home, there is no support from colleagues when you're struggling with a customer on the line and are not sure what to do. You are also targeted on how much you use hold, even when trying to seek help from someone. 

Far too many targets that are near impossible to achieve and which negatively affect your pay if you don't meet them. You feel as if you are being held under a microscope where everything you do is scrutinised and you feel yourself having to justify and explain everything you do to your manager. There is no trust or faith from management that you are capable of getting on an doing your job properly. Management do not also offer further training or support to help you achieve and meet your targets, you are just told not to use hold or talk too much.

Managers also appear to have their favourites and this has been quite obviously shown in my experience. 

Very discriminatory to those with long term health conditions even though they say that they're inclusive. If you present as a problem for them, they will dismiss you within your probation period. 

Ridiculously long shifts and a 4 week rotating shift pattern that they do not stick to. Also it is almost impossible to book any holiday in advance as it is always booked up.

Not enough staff so long waits for customers who come through angry and upset with the wait and take it out on you. 

Avoid, avoid, avoid. 

The job itself is very repetative. Get to work and sit on the phone for 8 hours and change peoples insurance policies when they call e.g. new car, new address, new bank details, add a driver, add breakdown.
I must say I have learned a lot while I have been there such as, how motor insurance works; what increases and decreases your car insurance; how to calm down a heated situation; how to deal with complaints; how do identify what sort of customer you are dealing with.
I absolutely love my team, the people I have met are amazing and we are all like a family. We all look out for eachother and are always there if one of us is in need.
The hardest part of the job is getting it wrong. We have audits every month to ensure we are doing our job right, not making mistakes, and doing what is best for the customer. Obviously we are all human and we all get something wrong at one point, but even though we get coaching if we make a mistake I find it difficult to accept as I always like to get it right and I hate feeling like I've let someone down.
The most enjoyable part of the job is the customer satisfaction, when you know you have made someones day or made a difficult situation easy for someone e.g. the loss of a loved one. Having to deal with these sort of situations are upsetting at the time due to the distress of the customer on the other end of the phone, but you know you have to keep it together and help this person to the best of your ability. And when you get that 'thankyou for making this easy for me' you know that you have helped that person, who was at first anxious about calling their loved ones' insurance company, go away with ease knowing they have nothing to worry about and everything has been resolved.

I have worked for the past nine years, have worked with different personalities, learned a lot of processes, system work, improved my knowledge on various insurance, financial products, able to communicate very well by e-mails, letters and by telephone to both internal and external customers.

When we are get the bonus we know how hard we have worked and shows us room for improvement and training needs are identified.

Reviews are conducted from time to time to identify for better customer service and to get things right at first time and to concentrate on customer and to do everything possible to make the customer happy," placing the customer at the heart of everything we do."

The staff both the co-workers and the team leaders are always pleasant to work with and are always approachable at any time and are always willing to share the knowledge they have.

I had the difficulty when I joined the company due to the communication as I come from India.  But now being 9 years passing though various departments and meeting different personalities have developed a lot in all senses.

I was part of the team that successfully migrated Halifax processes to Edinbrough and to Bristol in April 2012

To move out from Halifax to Aviva in September 2012 when that unit closed down was a hard day and was a challenging one and being flexible I have overcome the difficult part.  But now as part of the financial saving programe the roles are move to Pune - India which has made my role redudandant.

I always go for an extra mile to ensure that the customer satisfaction is always achieved to the highest standard possible without sacrificing the service standards set up by the company.

We also flexible hours to ensnure that if any requests are urgent, that they are handled in a timely manner.  We do overtime where and when necessary to ensure that the customer is happy.



The salary you get is minimal for the high pressure role you do. You can sacrifice the company pension and they give you about £135.00 a month extra in your salary, which you need to pay bills.
YOY increments are not great. You get small ££s but they give you free breakdown cover and travel insurance (no covid cover) and cheaper insurance products which they consider when putting your potential YOY increment and pay rise together.
The Exec team sound great, and have a vision but the senior managers in the brands or division micro manage and drip feed communication on a need to know basis.
The hardest part of the job is getting someone senior to take ownership. Dealing with difficult and abusive customers is a daily part of the job, and now we are working from home / living at work, the team leaders are work shy and want to pass it to anyone else, or their granny, than take the call.
You are meant to get huddles with your team for development and conversation, but they always get pulled due to business being in "red level" all the time and therefore .. no off the phone activity. Stay on the phones. Answer quicker *cracks whip*.
The shifts are the worst part of it all.
2 days off together, every 14 days! An example would be:
Sunday = Off
Mon - Wed = 1130 - 2000
Thursday = Off
Fri - Sun = 1230 - 2100
Mon - Tues = 0700 - 1530
Wed = Off
Thurs - Sat = 0830 - 1700
Sun - Mon = Off
No work life balance. It is difficult.
To be fair, they are bring in new systems ... but they have been in the pipeline for soooo long competitors still have the advantage. The amount of money spent on more people doing the role.
It has the potential to be something great, but it would take creative, bold voices to take the lead, and that is definitely not on the horizon.
If you really need a job, to pay for a roof over your hear of feed your children then take one here. If you have alternatives, take those instead.

Working at Direct Line Group was one of the most disappointing experiences of my career. While the company promotes values around people and culture, the reality on the ground is very different.

Management is a major issue. Decisions are often disconnected from day-to-day reality, and feedback from staff is either ignored or met with vague reassurances rather than meaningful action. Targets and KPIs are continually increased regardless of workload or staffing levels, creating an environment of constant pressure and stress.

Workload is excessive, and flexibility is limited despite repeated messaging about work–life balance. Burnout is common, morale is low, and staff turnover is high. Instead of addressing the underlying problems, the pressure is simply shifted onto those who remain.

A particularly concerning issue is the handling of office closures and offshoring. Teams have been left in the dark while roles are gradually outsourced offshore. Communication around this has been poor and unclear, with employees not being told whether their jobs are secure or what their future looks like. This lack of transparency creates anxiety and uncertainty, and it feels deeply disrespectful to people who have invested time and effort into the company.

Career progression is limited, and development opportunities feel more like box-ticking exercises than genuine investment. Pay does not reflect the level of responsibility, workload, or stress involved, especially when compared to similar roles elsewhere in the industry.

Overall, Direct Line Group appears more focused on cost-cutting, metrics, and optics than on treating employees with honesty and respect. I would not recommend this company to anyone who values transparent leadership, job security, or a genuinely supportive working environment.


Top Job Titles	Average salary
Customer service representative 1 salary reported	£28,986 per year
Underwriter 4 salaries reported	£51,250 per year
Claims processor 1 salary reported	£28,175 per year
Pricing analyst 1 salary reported	£60,000 per year
Media manager 4 salaries reported	£55,000 per year

Working at Aviva: company overview and reviews

Aviva

Aviva ratings

Popular jobs at Aviva

Salary satisfaction

Jobseeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected