what a mess - Anonymous employee FBL Financial Employee Review

1.0
Nov 23, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

great facilities. people are nice

Cons

I've been in IT for over 20 years. Half of those years as an architect. I have never known an organization that seems so opposed to having an enterprise architect view on things. They want to set up things in silos. Each of the companies doing their own thing without thought to how things should be at an enterprise view. This limits how systems scale and interact. The CIO from nationwide tried to implement this. Knowledge sharing, scalability, etc. I guess it was too much change cause they let him go. The new CIO is so wet behind the ears that I have t shirts that are older than him. From my view, he's getting rid of a lot of people that would challenge (or maybe did challenge him in the past). I'm not privy to a lot of that but I do know people. Someone who does that is acting out of fear. My advice to those looking to work here. Don't. Unless you want someplace that you can settle down, do very little work and not be noticed, this is your place. Otherwise, if you want challenge, ability to speak your mind, and management support. And like another reviewer said, go work somewhere else

Explore other reviews about FBL Financial

5.0
Aug 28, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Got to be involved in contributing to actual decisions

Cons

None that I can think of

4.0
Jan 5, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Obviously the benefits and people are great as other reviews have commented on. Place is clean, wellness is good, and people are friendly. Technology is about middle of the road, FBL wants to be not a leader, not a follower but right in the middle and they do a good job of this. Most managers including management team are approachable and willing to listen, middle level management has been shakey but getting better. Lower level management is about a 50/50 shot, this needs work. M-team is strong and lead the company well, they seem to care about the staff.

Cons

Some of the negative comments are unfounded and simply aren't true and basically represent sour grapes. The ex-CIO from Nationwide almost destroyed IT, while some change is needed, as in all companies a total over haul was unwarranted as was evident in the end. The new CIO while young brings a better understanding of what FBL is all about and while some hard decisions had to be made, as is with any new management change, they were needed. The negative here is that continued management changes has stressed the staff to the point of breaking, this needs stabilized, that's on m-team, the staff in IT is excellent and ready to work. Agile need solidified as well "where it makes sense", one size shoe doesn't fit all

4
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