Is State farm really going to decimate this city. I mean, if they fire or layoff etc even 500 to 600 of our systems department folks what they hell is going to happen to our city. I mean seriously BLM Normal is small, a 500 person reduction is like several thousand somewhere else. Don't they care people could go into foreclosure. Most of us who have been around for 15+ years don't have starter lives. We have very real mortgages, spouses, kids both still in the house and in college. Who the hell am l supposed to sell my house to when no sane person would come to Bloomington when it is apparent the HUBS will have the majority of the jobs. I just don't understand. Let alone the downstream service restaurants, gyms, hair salons etc that depend on a certain amount of patronage from SF folks. Like seriously what r they thinking. I am sorry just needed to our that out there.
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SF doesn't care. I personally don't feel safe buying anything big. My family and I are halting all spending. Things just seem to be going from bad to worst with how this company is progressing through this reorg. I see blood on the floor for the analyst in Bloomington. Shame on u SF.
Good comments. Everyone needs to prepare for a new future. 88
Reminds me of the abrupt words from Claim section manager in July 2017 meeting when visiting executive VP was being asked what the “plan” was and employees were seeking specifics. She, the VP, said they have no “plan” and would not beginning making one til about June 2018. He said to basically shut up, we were lucky we have so much lead time, to get our affairs in order and be ready to be done or transferred by first quarter 2019. I’d say get ready to be done everyday from here on out. Explore your financial options now while you can still get a line of credit (to bridge you until you can draw on your pension, or tide you over), look for other work while your credit is in good stead. Prepare your family for change. I had a co worker who had not yet told her spouse about the office closures when we’d known for months. He was under stress at his job at a different company and she did not want to add to his burden. They do not care about your woes. We are a commodity. We’ve been treated like cogs and wheels especially so for the past five years. The dehumanizing treatment was part of the plan to see which mice in the maze would survive or s--- it up and take it the longest. They just needed to time it right with staff reduction and office closures with the least severance and maximum pension and benefits reduction.
You will make it through. Identify your resources, stay flexible and let go of the anger (easier said than done, I know) as it only drains your energy. Good luck.
As witnessed by their actions with office closures in other cities, no they don't care about your family, your mortgage or the local community. They made it clear to us in our closure transition meetings that they do not care what kind of strain this impending closure and layoffs puts on anyone's families.
They want entry level people that they can pay less to do the jobs in the hubs. Never mind that experienced employees are the ones best equipped to keep things running smoothly.
"Worst thing is to sit on your bum and hope things take care of themselves."
Well said! My spouse and I each make 100K+ at the farm. We have seen the writing on the wall for at least 18 months, and have taken several steps to improve our long term career outlook. One of us recently moved into an ET revised role and the other isnt impacted, but they are building their resume, have an exit plan from the farm if needed, vacations and extra spending has been pulled way back, and we started a side business to suppliment income.
If you are sitting around just hoping, your going to get eaten alive! Thats what victims do.
For example: if you think I can be a scrummaster and do nothing else your failing yourself.
If you think I can be a scrummaster and pay $1000 for an industry class and certification at the local community college, job shadow with a current scrummaster, make it know to your leadership thats the role you want and push for their help to get you there, at least you can go down swinging or in a better position with another company.
Some jobs are supposed to be coming in from other offices, but like previously mentioned, they will likely be paying quite a bit less than the IT jobs going out.
I think the effect on real estate depends on the value of the house. On the last hub push, the 400K+ houses took a huge hit, and I bet they'll take another one. I know a few people that upside down on their homes. More affordable homes have been flat for the last decade. It's been a buyers market for several years
The last post was good, but I'll just add the the average salary of the positions culled in Bloomington are WAY higher than 50K. I'd say closer to 100K.
Here’s the issue for Bloomington-Normal, these reductions will cause a major hit to these communities and they aren’t prepared or planning for it. I’ve heard the total employment could get down to 13k over the next couple years from 15k, if this happens the salary dollars taken from the community will be significant. Even at the OP number of 500 the hit would be huge. Say the average salary is $50k/yr (stating this because most seem to be longer term employees), if you take 500 x $50k that’s $25M. I know some will find other employment but many may not and may leave so the $25M is worst case. Still a hit to our local community and it will be felt. Can you imagine 2k workers lost at $50k/yr. That’s $100M lost salary, once again worst case scenario as I know some will find new work and replace some of the lost salary. What is Bloomington-Normal doing to prepare and plan for this or is SF hiding facts from even the local governments? I agree with a former post, may be a blessing in disguise if you get let go and got out of central IL. Central IL communities are not booming and no new prospects on the horizon. ADM moving corporate functions to Chicago from Decatur, Cat doing the same, SF impacting Bloomington, and the state of IL financial fiasco which will eventually cause a reduction in government workforce and central IL is going to become a wasteland.
Perhaps it would be easier to forgive the company for cutting us lose in pursuit of their fiduciary duties if that was, in fact, their goal and if they were pursuing it in a realistic way.
But the bumbling fools sailing this sinking ship are throwing policies overboard. Customer service s---s because they treat their customer facing employees like wage slaves (and no, I am not one of them).
The changes they are making in several other areas are going to make it nearly impossible for those areas to get any meaningful work accomplished for several years.
And adding insult to injury, they decided to grow systems to absurd proportions before deciding it needed to be paired down. Does it need to be paired down? Yes, it does. But if our leaders had undertaken this initiative 15 years ago (when it was obvious to everyone that systems needed to be leaner, less siloed, and less specialized), it could have been accomplished with far less impact to the employees. Instead, they wasted billions of dollars on people, technology and processes we did not need and then panicked and decided to purge.
And it's kind of crappy for an organization to deliberately target the employees that have been with them the longest. I spoke to a rep from one of the companies doing outplacement services for State Farm, and she told me she still hadn't spoken to an SF employee who had been with the company for less than 15 years.
To the first reply:
Ever since they started treating their employees like crap their profit has suffered, auto especially
They owe it to their policyholders to have competent and stable staff to manage their policies, and they are failing more and more everyday
Got ahead of myself typing on my phone-- *Central Illinois is a tough place to thrive in at the moment. Perhaps it'd be a blessing in disguise to leave.
You have a good case study up the road in Peoria .. economy primarily driven by a large corporation (CAT), hospitals, and schools. Bloomington Normal doesn't have the kind of jobs in medicine that Peoria has but it does have a large University. Peorias housing market took a turn for the worse during CAT's last large layoffs but I can tell you being from that area that well kept homes in good locations still sold for a fair price. Mentally prepare yourself to sell and move if things do get bad, and have $$ saved up to get you through the transition. Worst thing is to sit on your bum and hope things take care of themselves. Central Illinois is a thought place to thrive in at the moment. Perhaps it'll be a blessing I disguise to leave.
You seem to think their purpose and responsibility is to give you a job and income. Not sure why you believe that. Their purpose is to turn a profit, not feed your family and put your kids through college.
Is this news to you?