Sometimes the calls come when it’s the worst time of a person’s life.
There has been a car crash, and the people involved are justifiably shook up. Or somebody’s prized possession, their car, has disappeared, seized by a thief.
Tonya Lovely, a claims director at Progressive, knows just how her workers try to calm frayed nerves, navigate complex paperwork, and get the job done.
“We focus on treating them with respect and empathy,” she said. “We understand our customers are the very reason Progressive exists, so we are there for them in their time of need.”
For many of the customers, it’s the first time they ever had an accident, which means the first time filing a claim. Her job is to make sure Progressive is “answering questions, providing support; (we) strive to make it a positive interaction and help them, and walk them through that.”
There’s “hand-holding through the process if need be,” she said. “We support them throughout the entire process and educate them along the way, what’s going on with their repairs, alleviate their concerns, and they can trust us with the claims process.”
Progressive, an insurance company founded in the 1930s, now has more than 60,000 employees nationwide. It’s the second largest auto insurer in the country, and also sells commercial auto, motorcycle, and boat insurance, and homeowners insurance.
Progressive was recognized as the top-ranked large-size workplace in this year’s South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Top Workplaces competition. There were 170 companies of all sizes surveyed and 126 qualified as a Top Workplace. Large-sized businesses are defined as having 400 or more employees in South Florida.
“It’s really the people, how we care for, how we treat people the way we want to be treated,” Lovely said. “We achieve our goals.”
Lovely says the award is well-earned, not just because of the way they treat their customers, but the wider community, too: Employees are given paid time off to volunteer, and the company has a program called Keys to Progress, which donates a gently used car to a veteran, including recipients in South Florida. And there’s the Keys to Progress Homeless Transition Program, to get the homeless off the streets into housing.
She is the claims director for the three South Florida offices, in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miramar, and oversees the department of 245 employees who manage claims.
While her department deals only with residential auto and motorcycles, other departments take care of claims when it comes to boats and RV’s, homes, semi trucks, pet insurance, wedding insurance, and more.
The Top Workplace honor is “because of our unwavering commitment to our core values,” Lovely said. “It’s not just words on paper; we’re shaped by that. What I love the most is our strong sense of community, (the) feeling of inclusivity. It’s something you sense throughout the entire organization.”
The company “encourages my career development and my advancement” and respects a work-life balance. There is the “opportunity to grow and develop, you really can thrive here personally and professionally,” she said.
“I am definitely a Progressive lifer, I intend on retiring here, I have a lot more to contribute to the company,” said Lovely, 49, who lives in Boynton Beach. She said the company is “committed to an engaged work environment where everyone is seen, valued and heard. We have a culture to make sure our people are cared for.”
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Elisha Ramirez, who will mark three years with the company in May, is just 26 years old, but on track to become a supervisor.
Ramirez, of Boynton Beach, is an “onboarding coach” for new employees in the West Palm Beach office.
Those employees are in their first year of work, and often new to the world of auto claims. Her job is to provide “support for questions and overall development in their skill set. It can be an overwhelming job,” she admits, for employees to learn about the policies. “It’s just an additional resource; we want our employees to be happy, we want them to stay.”
“It is a lot of information when they come in,” she said, and there are “nuances to the policies and procedures when working a claim.”
The company “fosters an inclusive environment where you can be your true self. (They) recognize hard work and contributions,” Ramirez said. “That has allowed me to experience rapid growth.”
Nestor Lopez, age 48, of Pembroke Pines, agrees. He marks 26 years this April and is a senior claims director for personal auto from Port St. Lucie south to the Florida Keys.
“We really, really invest in our employees’ growth and their long-term success,” he said. “There’s tons of opportunity for career advancement.”
The commitment to the community goes beyond homes and cars, but the day-to-day impact: “We clean up parks in our region,” he said. It happens in the “community that we have the privilege to serve. (We have the) opportunity to be impactful in the community (we) live in.”
Insurance isn’t all dry though, he says: “It’s collaborative,” he said, with a work culture that is “very nurturing, when you see somebody else, lend an ear. It allows people to bond.
“It’s a ton of fun. It’s highly technical, highly regulated, but people lift each other up,” he said. We “embrace the experience we’re all kind of going through at the same time.”
“Progressive is a wonderful company, we take a lot of pride, we understand we have to serve our customers,” he said. And the saying there is ‘our people are the core of everything we do,’” he said.
Also profiled as part of South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Top Workplaces 2025: Midsize companies winner Voloridge Investment Management and small companies winner CENTURY 21 Stein Posner.
Originally Published:
Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.