FHLBank Chicago reviews

Too many connection hires and promotions. No fair competition and zero transparency. Every department is run like a family business with the department head having the final say on everything with no surveillance. Often time you found some average performers getting promoted every few years or taking a position created just for him/her. The only answer to that puzzle is his or her parents know the executives or have some sort of connections. The competencies used during the annual review is just a tool to block your advancement if you are not part of their small circle or the perfect time for retaliation if you ever had any disagreement with your boss, but another great opportunity for their favorites to be handed over much bigger bonuses. Don’t be fooled by the management classes that HR made everyone take. It is just a show like all the D&I talks. HR won’t listen to your concerns or complaints unless you already had something lined up. HR drills into your head on your first day this is the best place to work. If you don’t like it, it’s your loss.

Overall, enjoyed my career here. Management just out of touch. Most directors are mickey mouses and promoted from favoritism not hired from the crop. They would get eaten alive in real corporate America. Also, their seemed to be more C- mid-managers with no prior experience before I left. Work life balance non existent in IT, but may not be like this in other areas. Too much on D&I. Big Brother trying to trip up IT and make their lives miserable each day. IT gets to work with lots of technologies but can change on the fly, throwing months or years of work out the door. If I had to guess, IT at this company will soon be 90% automated (SaaS, Machine Learning, Ansible, etc) which is the direction a lot of companies are taking to save $ on overhead. They are somewhat ahead of most places which I thought was exciting. Before leaving mid-pandemic, overwhelming turnover and I understand is still the case - but happening at most places, just tough for a small company losing people 10+ years tenure. Had never seen people leave this place with so much tenure that fast. Has to say something about the company I think. Would like to see those people's thoughts here.