I would say the man who was able to stay with AIG for 30 years is a damn genius and a survivor. Hard to run the gauntlet and make it through about 120 RIFs (one every quarter for thirty years).
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so the sinking ship is "cumulating" to fail - you don't say petey
I am patiently waiting for lay off. I know my manager does not "have my back". My salary is considered higher than average for my team, but I earned this salary. I am not an AIG lifer. I had a career before AIG and I will continue my career after AIG. The problem we all encounter is people in management positions that are not worth c-ap. A lot of mid level manager are under qualified and have been promoted not for their skills, but for kissing a–. My manager has been with AIG for over 30 years. 30 years in the same department. 30 years with the same skill set.
Perfectly stated @1rnt+16jub88y. I am exactly in the same way of thinking. I too was proud to tell people I worked for AIG....but not anymore. I have been here a long time and am looking as well. This last round of layoffs cut some folks I have worked with for many many years. They worked their bums off..,,,..for what? Unceremoniously read a script and LAN access cut off immediately.
Sure, you get the severance....but they poured their lives into this place....as have I.
Its got to hurt when you are thrown out like this.
Well said, I was one of the legacy rifs. My evaluation was always at the 1 or 2 level. However, when 2 of my bosses were riffec, I was left working for an incompetent interim manager. He was jealous of my salary, which was likely higher than his, and took me out when he got the chance. The good news is that the rif enabled me to move out all of my money from AIG, pension and 401K money, so I know longer have worry when AIG goes under that I will go down with the ship.
in response to 1yqd+16jub88y:
I think that is a valid question about being negative and it is probably different for everyone. For me the answer is complicated. When I started at AIG it was a proud company that took care of its employees and being employed at AIG was a badge of honor to some degree.
Obviously things have changed. Now AIG is a revolving door of executives that swoop in every 3 to 5 years, bring in all of their friends, get a huge payday upfront and golden parachutes when they leave. Every new exec comes in and says the same thing, but none of them accomplish much beyond reducing staff to prop up their bonuses.
Meanwhile the average worker doesn't get decent pay raises, doesn't get career advancement and has no opportunity to move in the company unless they are friends with the current leadership. So what has happened is that most of the really good people that I used to work with have left, some by rif, but mostly buy choice because the competition is just better than AIG. Better in just about every way. Better products, better systems, better pay scales, better culture, better client experiences and so on. Also, when people leave at the field level, they rarely get replaced so their work is dumped on whomever is left. Obviously with this approach customer service suffers, but no one in upper management really cares.
Then there are the things that really make AIG special like never really knowing what percentage of your sti upper management may bless you with in March, never knowing when you may be rifed and never knowing if any systems will work from day to day. Also, competing against new, agile companies that offer better client solutions and broker experiences is a constant challenge since AIG is stuck in the stone ages with technology and continuing to offshore IT isn't the answer.
Unfortunately, I think many of us fell into a trap by working here when AIG was great and we held on to the belief that one of the many exec teams that we have had over the years could actually get it together again. Now reality sets in, we have been here way too long, but if we get rifed it equals a nice package. If we walk out, we get nothing. So many people just wait and wait and wait and hope and pray for a rif.
So what's left working at AIG at this point? The cheerleaders - New upper management that are making huge sums of money and will get huge paydays when they leave. They have absolutely nothing to lose no matter what happens with AIG so they are bullish always. The legacy workers - caught somewhere in an AIG purgatory where you don't really care what happens at AIG and you are really hoping for a rif so you do as little as possible just to get by day to day. The newer employees - they really think they can change the system and that upper management cares about them, but after a few years they become disgruntled and leave for a better company. Finally there are the people that will never leave - they really aren't bright enough or ambitious enough to look for another job so they just kiss up to management and worry about being rifed while trying not to make waves. I would say this type of employee is a large portion of AIG staff these days which is another reason that AIG is doomed. Most of the good people have left or are just waiting to leave. You can't be a leader in the industry when you have a base of mediocrity at the customer level. You can hire as many brilliant global heads as you like, but it isn't going to change the daily interactions with customers unless you take care of the employees in the field. AIG has never learned that lesson and it's probably too late at this point because the staff in the field is mostly gutted and not coming back.
I fall in that legacy category above and am hoping for a rif, but if it doesn't come I will be gone on my own by year end because there is obviously a cost to hanging around and getting old at AIG. I just can't do it anymore. I imagine there are a lot of people out there like me. Hopefully this helps some of you understand why many people have such distain for this company. If it doesn't then stick around and you can learn first hand how AIG works.
Because most of the individuals on this board have not be treated fairly for years by AIG.
Well, given they're laying off their US employees and offshoring their work. Leadership is unethical and is vastly overpaid. They don't csre about their people, and the good ones will leave when the economy improves. Most of us will be glad when we're gone.
Everyone is so negative AIG. Seems like everyone wants them to fail. Why is that?
By 2025 AIG will be bankrupt or sold. I guess either option is progress
lol