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Colonial First State

Engaged employer

A company stuck in 1990 - Senior Product Manager Colonial First State Employee Review

1.0
Jan 25, 2022
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.

Explore other reviews about Colonial First State

5.0
Jul 14, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

They are sweet to us

Cons

They are hard when you dont do work

2.0
May 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good CBD location Life leave and birthday leave Decent salary and yearly bonus Mentoring and skills workshops available

Cons

Not very stable. There was a lot of restructuring and redundancies during my time there. In my department there were people who resigned without having another job lined up. It was sad to see many good people leave.

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