When I joined CFC I was very much sold on their M.O of work hard and play hard however in recent years the latter part of that culture has faded and there is a lot of working hard without the benefits.
We’re constantly told how successful the company is achieving $1bn in GWP and how we’re growing exponentially and opening offices around the world but that success doesn’t trickle down to employees below management level, salaries are way below market level, talking about a good 10k or more below and there is no transparency on salary bandings. Promotion review and salary is awful, it’s left to the last minute around March time and they have now scrapped opportunity for promotion in August so it’s very much dependent on what time of the year you join and it doesn't look to change anytime soon. The salary/promotion review is not a review or a discussion, management just tells you what minimal salary increase you’re getting and if you push back they just come back after a week and say upper management won’t increase further. The icing on the cake is that they split the bonus into two so if you decide to leave the company you don’t get the other half of your bonus which you worked hard for. What a business model, ey! The same with promotions you’re basically told whether you have got it or not without any rhyme or reasoning.
Feels like a revolving door especially when it comes to more junior employees. A lot of people have left and they have lost a lot of talent to competitors who are willing to train and pay employees better. Many people have tried to bargain and push back especially in terms of salary but have been met with nothing and let me tell you there’s nothing more sobering then being told “If you’re not happy then you can always leave” by someone with 3 Cartier bracelets earning 4x your salary when you’re struggling to afford rent, groceries and transport as a 20 something working in the city.
There was recent controversy with “The culture” and we’ve been forced to do a number of culture surveys and days expressing how we feel. A lot of people complained about salary, benefits and micromanagement and it will be interesting if there is actionable change or if it was all just a tickbox exercise to make the company look good to regulators and other insurers.
Not in all teams but in some depending on your manager there is an issue of micromanagement, it can feel like school sometimes where you’re not trusted to get work done and forced to explain why you’re working from home. We’re all adults and post Covid we should be trusted to work from home.
March is just around the corner so I really hope things to change for the better. CFC has so much potential, great people and great talent but they are forgetting the core which is their employees. Leave all the bells and whistles and focus on what people really care about - Remuneration and progression
