Pros
I worked at State Farm for a little over two years and left to launch my own business. My dad has been a State Farm agent for many years, so I had always wanted to work for the company. The salary and benefits package was very competitive and the use of State Farm Park was very nice.
Cons
I worked as a Process Analyst in a department that had very weak leadership at the manager and director level. The AVP over my area was not a good leader, and had a myopic view of what needed to be done. A lot of time was wasted on vanity exercises for his ego. The work done by my team was a waste of company money, as all projects that I worked on were implemented but there was no accountability. The analyst level employees had no accountability to the managers and leaders. Everyone just did what worked for them. As a result, the work produced by the department was uneven, inefficient and substandard. The company hierarchy was startlingly bloated and out of date. In my small department alone, there were several senior managers that did not have any director reports. The sense of entitlement by "long-timers" was out of touch with results, and expenses were out of control. It's my understanding that mass layoffs have finally begun, but unfortunately it is probably too little too late. The company is far behind the curve on innovation, the customers are not the primary focus, nothing is done quickly. It is a relic compared to the direction the insurance industry is heading.
