IT - Anonymous employee FBL Financial Employee Review

4.0
Jan 5, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Obviously the benefits and people are great as other reviews have commented on. Place is clean, wellness is good, and people are friendly. Technology is about middle of the road, FBL wants to be not a leader, not a follower but right in the middle and they do a good job of this. Most managers including management team are approachable and willing to listen, middle level management has been shakey but getting better. Lower level management is about a 50/50 shot, this needs work. M-team is strong and lead the company well, they seem to care about the staff.

Cons

Some of the negative comments are unfounded and simply aren't true and basically represent sour grapes. The ex-CIO from Nationwide almost destroyed IT, while some change is needed, as in all companies a total over haul was unwarranted as was evident in the end. The new CIO while young brings a better understanding of what FBL is all about and while some hard decisions had to be made, as is with any new management change, they were needed. The negative here is that continued management changes has stressed the staff to the point of breaking, this needs stabilized, that's on m-team, the staff in IT is excellent and ready to work. Agile need solidified as well "where it makes sense", one size shoe doesn't fit all

Explore other reviews about FBL Financial

5.0
Aug 28, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Got to be involved in contributing to actual decisions

Cons

None that I can think of

2.0
Sep 18, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people - genuinely nice people and with 10 years at the company you really come to appreciate the majority of the business as family.

Cons

Poor leadership choices moving forward with the IT department. Now ex-CIO brought in all of his cronies from Nationwide. Became a culture of either you're from Nationwide, or you're nothing. Ruined the family culture of the organization and many people packed up and left. CIOs mantra was "IT is just math" and people were treated like numbers, unless you were hired under that regime. CIO is now gone, but many of his hires still hold the leadership in IT. For that reason, unless you have Nationwide on your resume and you're looking for a job in IT; look elsewhere. If you have doubts, ask anyone that works in IT at FBL. Hoping the new CIO (who was hired internally and not of the Nationwide lineage) can turn things around.

5
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