"Common Sense Is All Too Uncommon At AIG" - Financial Analyst AIG Employee Review

2.0
Feb 9, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- More competitive benefits package for current workers than is offered by the Industry. - Work-From-Home option given (if needed). - Lower-tiered managers/team leads are responsive to staff concerns/input. - Opportunities are given to transition laterally across the organization if satisfaction is not found with current segment.

Cons

- The Biggest Con - objectively and literally - is the Forced Rankings System (FRS), whereby employees are judged against those of their same grade level across different teams. Additionally, there are only a fixed number of rankings to give (i.e. 10 As, 20 Bs, 30 Cs, etc.). In other words, you could deliver superior quality work compared against your entire team, yet still receive an inferior ranking because the maximum number of As, Bs, and Cs had been reached. In a way, it's like playing Yahtzee, where the higher value spaces are already taken, so you're pigeon-holed into playing for the lower value ones. - The 2nd Biggest Con is that management is very keen on "enhancing efficiency" (i.e. cutting cost, raising profit) by transferring as many functions overseas as quickly as possible. For now, it's the more 'menial tasks' (low-severity issue resolution), because that team is still relatively inexperienced. However, the 'Great Onshore Concern' is that the overseas team will take on the larger tasks once it gains more experience. Management has remained curiously mum on that point. - The 3rd Biggest Con is that none of the lower managers/team leads place any emphasis on proper project planning for any task - great or small. This results in poor utilization of resources, cost-overruns, late deliveries, a burnt out staff (that was never properly staffed to begin with), and angry reactions all around. - Following #3, the 4th Biggest Con is that none of the staff have any knowledge of or appreciation for proper project management methodologies. Everyone wants to immediately start execution of a task without ever planning the work. That results in the above-outcomes in #3 roughly 99% of the time, with either "too many chiefs, and not enough Indians," or a scenario of "the inmates running the asylum."

Explore other reviews about AIG

5.0
May 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good vibe and work life balance

Cons

slow and outdated tech stack

2.0
May 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Salary and vacation days are good but be careful you are not taking on multiple roles for this position.

Cons

If you’re considering applying, make sure to ask in the interview: Will there be someone else doing what I am doing? If not, the team is understaffed and all the responsibility will rest on your shoulders. Even with the vacation days, your days will be swamped and stressful. It is NOT worth it. Out of curiosity, I’ve been looking at their latest job postings for my department and there is so much packed into one role, it’s wild. You can tell the person they’re trying to replace clearly wore too many hats and it will be a long struggle to fill this position. Are my team members working in other time zones? You can face several early morning calls based on their hiring pattern. Some teams will require annual or quarterly traveling. Over the years, the company is hiring mainly white managers domestically in the USA, while lower roles are hired abroad or contractors. Meetings to accomodate offshore hours are brutal. What percentage of the day is in meetings? If you don’t have time to deliver on output because of meetings, you will likely have to stay late to complete the work. The company seems to hire very good talkers but not a lot of do-ers. Several meetings involved more people than needed. Managers seem to think “if I have to suffer through this meeting, everyone has to suffer”. If managers are fortunate enough to delegate the deliverables, they can handle some meetings by themselves. Who would be handling my onboarding and training when I start? If it is not your direct manager, your early success will be at the mercy of your peers who understandably are not responsible for onboarding you. Sadly, I have observed that the people-managers do not like to manage people. In fact, they value those that manage the manager and the team’s roadmap plan for them. The managers don’t seem to want to oversee the team or their deliverables. If there is a job change (salary, position, hours) how is that communicated? In my experience these things were not communicated or consented to. The change would apply in the system and you would have to conform accordingly.

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