The framework is there but there's a issue with the management culture
Pros
The framework is there for Cigna to be a good employer: decent benefits (you'd think the medical benefits would be great but they're just average), plenty of employee support and engagement programs driven from the executive and HR teams, decent (maybe even above average?) pay, and plenty of good people. There are plenty of educational opportunities to increase your skill set, moving around in the company is not difficult, and they seem bought into the idea of remote work. This all sounds great, right? It's exactly the kind of framework you want in a potential employer. In fact, even though I'm rating them two stars and will go into the reasons why below, if you are a low skill or recent graduate (high school or college), Cigna is not a bad place to try the foot-in-the-door approach. Start in a band 2 position and work your butt off while taking advantage of training opportunities and you can probably establish a career path that gets you to band 3 in 2-3 years and maybe even band 4 in another 3-4 years. Not bad, right? Easier said than done, especially if you're a agent rep constantly on the phone and limited on educational training time, but the opportunity is there if you can deal with the stress and workload.
Cons
Before I get into the cons, let me share that I've worked there for over a decade and moved around in different groups and had multiple managers. I've interacted with Band 2s, 3s, 4s, 5, and 6s. I've been part of cross-company initiatives and had many chances to hear the behind the scenes conversations in different business groups. So I've had lots of different experiences on which to form my opinions and it's taken me a while to sort out what it is that makes Cigna a difficult place to work. At first, I thought it might be the lifers. There are lots of people at Cigna who've been there over 20 years, even 30 or 40 years. And yes, lifers can drag any company down when they keep a chokehold on moving forward and when their institutional knowledge is so ingrained that can't speak in common English anymore. However, the lifers are not the root issue, they really only compound the actual problem. The problem is that Cigna hires and promotes jerks. I don't know how to say it other than Cigna has a much higher-than-average number of deeply unpleasant and/or misguided people in management positions. They're jerks. Some of them are lifers but some have been there only long enough to learn to be jerks from the other jerks and then continue the cycle. These are the kind of over-ambitious, out of work/life balance, petty micromanagers that most people try to avoid like the plague. Some of them go beyond unpleasant to being outright abusive. For some reason, Cigna promotes these people. My guess is that's it's because they're drawn to each other, like vampires who band together to drain off everyone else. If you find a nice manager at Cigna, don't count of them staying that way as they're gradually worn down or more likely, simply because they'll leave. Most of my favorite managers have left the company. My biggest jerk managers have almost all been promoted. Now, I said above there's plenty of good people and there are. That includes lifers, younger employees right out of school, and those like me who've managed to make it 5-10 years. But what happens is the majority of those good people learn to put up with the jerk managers and just somewhat exist at Cigna. There's not real engagement and it can be difficult to count on people for consistent collaboration and support. I can't blame them when so many attempts at innovation or independent decision making are squashed by jerk managers more intent on establishing their control of their turf and beating people down. So while it's true there are opportunities at Cigna, the stress and low morale will eventually get you to either leave for another company or just take on the attitude of getting through yet another day. Not what I'm looking for in employer. I should also mention that while Cigna has some really great diversity programs and talks the talk on diversity and inclusion, all you need to do is look at their senior management and really all band 4 and above management to see they don't walk the walk. If you're in a "diverse" group, you can find some support but I suspect you'll still feel that you don't have the same opportunities as the majority others (I'm speaking this as one of those majority others).
