- At a high level, Nationwide seems to lack to ability to be nimble/innovative. My take is that the size/structure of the company, during my time there, did not allow for nimbleness in change in the way leadership often envisioned. While there were some pockets of very effective innovation / change management inside of the Enterprise, it appeared Nationwide was largely a "fast following" company during my tenure; especially as it related to its larger business units. At times this likely served them well, but there were times when delayed action or half-measures seemed to result in negative consequences for members and employees. Certainly none of these negative consequences were ill-intentioned, and were likely not unique to Nationwide, but rather challenges faced by many large players in the industry.
This was most evident to me from a system perspective. E.g. when transitioning from legacy systems to something more modern, the Enterprise struggled to role these out effectively, making it difficult for well intentioned front line associates to function as efficiently as possible. Often associates were tasked with doing more with less because of unforeseen limitations of these new systems. Bottom line; we often rolled things out that simply were not ideal for production. Size and scope of the changes being implemented were often barriers to success.
- There were certainly times when we struggled to prioritize work life balance. This was most evident during my time in claims and fluctuated drastically depending on changes in leadership.
