Stealth Layoffs

Don't believe the hype... my mother works as a CSR at GEICO. While it is true they aren't laying off, what they have done (at least for call center employees) is made the call metrics/quality standards so impossibly high that people are getting let go right and left. This has happened just within the last few months. Basically, you fail your scores for a couple months, they put you on an improvement plan, you keep failing, then they let you go.
Another terrible aspect of GEICO (again, at least the call centers) is how they handle calling in sick. ALL time off must be pre-approved, so if you call in sick, that's an unexcused absence and that gets marked against you. Doesn't matter if you are blowing it out both ends. The only way around this is to get to the doctor the very first day you are out and have him fill out FMLA paperwork, and if you are out more than a few days you will also need to have him fill out a Fitness to Return to work form. That way you can go back to work and not have adverse consequences. My mother went home sick one day with the flu, went to straight to bed, and went to the doctor the following day for treatment and the FMLA paperwork, and when she returned to work they told her they were going to mark her down for an unexcused absence for the day she left early, because her FMLA paperwork wasn't signed until the next day.
Beware.