Pros
There are a lot of unique challenges. With the consultant and outsourced resources, the ability to learn from experienced people is worth spending some time at the company. There are also some really kind hearted and good people still working with the company. Dallas, West Coast, and European teams are amazing groups. As mentioned in other reviews PTO is almost extreme with the holiday schedule to the point it can cause issues during certain months. It does provide a good break during hectic times. Benefits are average to the market.
Cons
Lack of Diversity & Nepotism - The C-Level, with one exception is middle aged jewish males. That one exception covers two out of three criteria that seems to be needed to be at the top. They are all friends and family of one half of the owning entities. At least half do not have the background to be in their current positions, which has been proven by the consultants that are actually calling the shots at AmTrust. Almost all Minority managers have been let go or have left due to mistreatment. The NYC is literally segregated between two floors, with employees similar to the C-Level mentioned above on one floor and everyone else on the floor below. I’m a jewish man myself, but seeing the lack of diversity and cliques are detrimental to the business, morale and ethical ideals. Financial Issues - After multiple years of putting out bad numbers, the company went private, mostly due to public scrutiny but also to keep as much of their accounting ineptitude behind closed doors. The former finance leader still works for the company apparently until things are cleaned up. The company became bloated, which is being cleaned up with ongoing RIFs and there were many bad M&A deals that are now being sold off. AmTrust got into many LOBs they did know how to integrate properly. Storm of Events - Three major events happened 3-4 years ago. The original founder, a brilliant businessman passed away which left leadership which only had AmTrust on their resume in charge. A change in external auditing firms, brought a fine tooth comb into the bookkeeping which exposed a great deal of issues and caused everyone to make knee-jerk decisions. The purchase of Tower, a failed insurance company, putting their leadership in high level positions especially in areas where they made big mistakes leading to their demise (Spending, UW/Actuary). Entrepreneurial doesn’t mean what you think. There are some cases where it has worked out. Good people getting promotions. For the most part though, entrepreneurial means doing other people’s jobs, who have either left, been fired or never existed in the first place, in order to do your job. Vacuums are constantly being created and you begin to look as a failure as you may rely on the missing service. Anyone that has been recruited can tell you they are not doing they job they were hired to do. For a few people it’s a good thing. For most, it means 60-80 hour weeks. Entrepreneurial also means having the ability to be cold and betray your co-workers. Many managers are pitted against each other to see who comes up with the cheapest and fastest solution. Rarely the best. The word is heavily used wrongly in recruiting materials to bring in young, low salary people.
