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Western Financial Group Reviews
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    Western Financial Group Reviews

    Updated 14 September, 2018
    99 reviews

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    3.5
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    Western Financial Group President and CEO Kenny Nicholls
    Kenny Nicholls
    32 Ratings

    99 Employee Reviews

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    Pros

    • "We have really good benefits, 3 weeks of vacation days/year to start along with flex days and sick days" (in 7 reviews)

    • "They realize there has to be a fair work/life balance" (in 4 reviews)

    Cons

    • "No training although head office wants to believe they have the best training" (in 7 reviews)

    • "The micro management and cancerous environment brought about at the mid management level made the environment extremely toxic" (in 4 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons
    1. Featured Review

      "My branch has been a great place to work"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      Current Employee - Insurance Advisor in Medicine Hat, AB
      Current Employee - Insurance Advisor in Medicine Hat, AB
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at Western Financial Group full-time

      Pros

      I have read many of the reviews, some very negative. I can only speak from my experience. I am still fairly new to Western and to the insurance field but my experience has been nothing but positive and supportive. The branch management team has supported my growth, they see my success as success for the company.

      Training has been very structured and well paced. The office environment has been good, this branch really does feel like a family (and yes, every family has some dysfunction, but compared to other places I have worked this is minor).

      The pay and benefits are competitive, I have heard that the starting salary is a little lower than other brokerages but the increased vacation and benefits offsets this.

      One of the things about Western that was most appealing to me is the focus on local community and the push to be involved, whether with fundraising efforts, volunteering, or supporting in other ways. Insurance is very much a corporate endeavor, so if being involved in your community and giving back is also important to you, Western is a great place to do that.

      Cons

      I am still new to Western, I have not come across much in the way of negatives yet.

      Advice to Management

      Read through the reviews. Clearly there are some issues in some (perhaps many) of the branches, but not all. Find what is working well, try to replicate it in places where things are not going well. You don't need to reinvent the wheel.

      Western Financial Group Response

      8 Feb, 2018 – Digital Media Specialist

      Thanks for taking the time to review us. We appreciate it!

    2. "Great company to work for with very big future"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Western Financial Group full-time

      Pros

      This company is growing fast and its a good time to work for them

      Cons

      Slow adoption of tech but this is industry wide

      3. Join the Western Financial Group team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Would not recommend working here"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Western Financial Group full-time

      Pros

      paid vacation, personal days and sick days

      Cons

      No support from management and above
      Not enough front line staff
      Not paid near enough money for the work
      Low office morale
      Different rules for different staff
      Throw new staff to the wolves and hope they survive
      Management implements plans that work for them and not for staff. They have no concept of how to deal with staff problems away from work, especially those who have family outside Canada
      Too high sales targets and staff are being constantly hit with new targets and threatened when they aren't reaching them.
      If a manager dislikes you, you might as well pack your bags and walk before you are pushed

      Advice to Management

      Realise your staff are tired of your stupid targets and ideas and are afraid to say anything
      Stop telling them to suck it up or the door is over there
      Treat your staff as though they are valued. Stop hiding behind you office door and realise that all is not well in your office.
      Spend sometime sitting beside your staff and see what they go through on a daily basis. ALL IS NOT WELL LOOK AROUND YOU
      Staff are demoralised and are actively looking elsewhere. Some of them have 2 jobs because they aren't earning enough. Take heed of the employee engagement survey.
      You are going to lose a lot of experienced staff if you don't listen and TAKE ACTION

    4. Helpful (1)

      "Team lead"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Team Lead in Victoria, BC
      Current Employee - Team Lead in Victoria, BC
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Western Financial Group full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      - Great work and life balance
      - Great benefits
      - Paid Holidays, along with Personal Days and Sick days
      - Supportive management
      - Lots of career opportunities
      - Community Supportive job atmosphere
      - Room for growth within company
      - Upbeat work atmosphere
      - Great upper management at Head Office in Victoria who know individuals by name and push you to succeed in company.

      Cons

      I don't feel like there is any down sides. I enjoy my job and everyone I work with. I enjoy coming to work and am happy here.

      Advice to Management

      Keep doing what you're doing! Great job and great company to work with. It would be nice to see bigger company events wit all staff and to bring us together as one and get to know people from all over company.

    5. "Ok place to work"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Medicine Hat, AB
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Medicine Hat, AB
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Western Financial Group full-time

      Pros

      Super supportive coworkers, lots of team work.

      Cons

      Training from the head office is really bad. Head office needs to talk to the people in the actual office more, they don’t know what we really need. In office training is ok.

      Advice to Management

      Managers are all totally different, only one really is supportive and seems to care. One is really condescending and doesn’t know how to talk to people. Be more open with what is happening in the office.

    6. "Poor management and scheudle"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Insurance Advisor in Victoria, BC
      Current Employee - Insurance Advisor in Victoria, BC
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I have been working at Western Financial Group full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      3 weeks vacation a year

      Cons

      No work life balance
      Split weeks
      No paid overtime
      Expensive benefits

      Advice to Management

      Poor management with no work life balance...

      Western Financial Group Response

      28 Jun, 2018 – Social Media Specialist

      We value your feedback. We are committed to ensuring our employees feel supported by their management. We appreciate open communication and if you feel comfortable you could speak with your regional... More

    7. "Great Company & Culture"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at Western Financial Group full-time

      Pros

      - Positive work environment encouraging growth and learning;
      - Competitive salaries;
      - Engaged leadership team who are not afraid to work hard;

      Cons

      - Commute is not easy if you do not have your own vehicle.

      Advice to Management

      Keep doing what you're doing.

    8. "Interesting work"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Western Financial Group full-time

      Pros

      The variety of project types has kept me her for 5+ years.

      Cons

      The drive from the city- it is long

    9. Helpful (1)

      "Had enough"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend

      I have been working at Western Financial Group full-time

      Pros

      I'm sure there are some out there but my experience has been overwhelmingly negative

      Cons

      Where do I start.

      - Unreasonable expectations/workload
      - Huge amounts of inconsistency between departments and even within departments - you can get 5 different answers to the same question without looking very hard and no matter which way you do it you will get in trouble from the other 4 people for doing it wrong.
      - Managers appear to be able to get away with anything, and if an employee makes a complaint head office sides with the manager without question (and usually without even looking into the situation)
      - I could go on and on, but I'll just leave it with this advice: work elsewhere unless you're prepared to hold your tongue and never question anything while putting up with mistreatment that borders on abuse.

      Advice to Management

      Judging from these reviews, every one at the Medicine Hat branch is happy (and decided to report this on the same day as each other), perhaps you should model everything after that branch.

      Western Financial Group Response

      29 May, 2018 – Social Media Specialist

      Thank you for taking the time to voice your concerns. We’re glad to hear that there are some pros of the job, however, we were disappointed to hear that you’ve been having a tough time with your... More

    10. "Very quite quite company - no hustle bussle"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Accounting in High River, AB
      Former Employee - Accounting in High River, AB

      I worked at Western Financial Group full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Fair workload, no unnecessary dump of work. A very calm and quite atmosphere to work. Eases good amount of pressure off you with it. And 37.5 hrs a week is also appreciable.

      Cons

      Very closed like culture. No major discussions around. Improvement ideas are not valued.

      Advice to Management

      Please have transparency in the management.

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