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Colonial First State

Engaged employer

Colonial First State Reviews

3.5

45% would recommend to a friend

(226 total reviews)

52% positive business outlook

Colonial First State has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 226 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Colonial First State employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Finance industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

226 reviews
1.0
May 29, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You do RG146. You can start between 730 and 9am.

Cons

Poor leadership team throughout business as there's blatant in-fighting. Poor staff retention (about 15 people left in administration in 2016 alone). Poor salary in admin (less than $60k salary package) Poor career development. Roles tend to go to persons who've worked in the role on secondment. These individuals are cherrypicked, and advertising the role at all is simply out of obligation. They do not care for the wellbeing of staff. They're chronically under-resourced.

2.0
Feb 7, 2023

CFS employees leave due to Culture (Employee engagement)

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- After separating from the CBA group, the organisation is trying to embark on a transformation journey that brings many opportunities. - The team, across the board, is helpful and supportive.

Cons

The cons mentioned here are of only the business unit I worked for, and these observations here do not apply to another business unit within the organisation. - Management primarily consists of YES men/women; thus, in the process of managing upwards, the work-life balance is getting worse. - High attrition rate due to lack of clear strategic direction and consistently changing goalposts since separating from CBA. - Unsustainable working environment and terrible work culture. - The organisation does not care about employee engagement even though it is a KPI. - No career progression.

1.0
Jan 25, 2022

A company stuck in 1990

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Work life balance - Flexibility

Cons

A company suffering from active inertia. Where the new leadership are trying to bring back the glory days of 1990. And their method of choice is to change the company structure back to all the old ways of working that do not work in 2022. And double down on all the past failed strategies that have failed before. If your competitors in the advised, high net worth space are innovating. And your competitors in the direct market have the scale to kill you on cost at every turn. Maybe rethink the moronic strategy that you can race them to the bottom on cost and fees. Because HostPlus and AusSuper will beat you direct to consumer with a cheaper, better offer. And you won't have focused any energy or time on the innovation required to beat your competitors in the advised market. HUB, NetWealth and Macquarie will innovate you to death and corner advice relationships. Especially when the entire customer experience is a paper quagmire. Imagine. Asking customers to do everything on paper in 2022. With the strategies to fix it ignored and not invested in. The amount of consultants that have come through and said the same thing to the business and management is insane - fix experience, fix paper servicing, improve data quality, invest in digital. Instead you have old Grandpa 1990 and his merry band of waterfall IT practitioners running the show. All thinking if you pre-pop some paper you're cutting edge. This company is going nowhere and until the management is fired and replaced it will continue going absolutely nowhere.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 226 Reviews

Glassdoor has 250 Colonial First State reviews submitted anonymously by Colonial First State employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Colonial First State is right for you.