Terrible work environment - Applications Developer FBL Financial Employee Review

1.0
18 Nov 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

very little. poor management. I don't think Jim Brannen knows how bad the culture is there....which is very sad

Cons

So I've been there for about 4 years now. I'm a developer. I've worked in a variety of places in my career and FBL really takes the cake. This is an organization that is so behind the times. A fairly simple ZOS mainframe upgrade took down our admin system. I work in the Life area and it took us well over a year to stand up a new life admin system with absolutely minimum functionality. There are so many manual processes that I’m not sure if it was even cost effective to do this. Someone is getting snowed. Managers and senior leadership have no real clue on how projects need to be put together. Decisions get made and then changed 3 months later. The CIO is a rotating door. My advice, if you’re a developer that really wants to work on exciting things and have your input really be heard, this is not the place to go. Find somewhere else!

avatar
FBL Financial Response
9y
Thank you for taking the time to write this review. We take great pride in the work environment and internal talent development. We encourage employees to have open conversations with their leaders about internal mobility. We are always striving to improve and be forward-thinking, so we genuinely appreciate your feedback!

Explore other reviews about FBL Financial

5.0
28 Aug 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Got to be involved in contributing to actual decisions

Cons

None that I can think of

4.0
5 Jan 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

4
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All