I see a ton of posts here today, can someone summarize what's going on (for us who are not part of the circus any more). Thanks in advance. Also, the grass is not greener once you leave, but it's not as bad as I expected it to be when I was leaving (after 16 years of complete dedication to The Farm).
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Summary: Every area in State Farm is having staffing re-evaluated. It started last fall with first and second line leadership, after some AVP re-alignments. Last month first line managers were announced. Last week (at least on the IT side) most analysts found out if their roles are understaffed or overstaffed.
The overarching problem is several years ago, they were on a hiring frenzy for a huge effort (that wound up failing, to no ones surprise). Now we need to return to pre-CDE levels of employee numbers. Some of the issue stems from business folks pulled to the systems side, whose old position was then backfilled. We also augmented IT staff with quite a few unskilled workers. So all this is catching up to us. The overall change is for the good, but the implementation has been heartless and not well thought out.
They've killed the culture here, the social contract with the employees has been destroyed. Instead of (what in my opinion would have been the right thing to do) reducing over-staffing through early retirement, buyouts and attrition along with some targeted cuts of poor performers, they took a hatchet approach.
Now our guess is that to keep from getting sued, they just threw everyone in the same boat. That way no demographic can scream discrimination. I can also tell you that I think they are using an outside company to realign folks and make job offers (yes we all had to re-apply for our jobs). The though on this is that the demographics need to fit and SF wants no part in making those choices. This hasn't been confirmed, but the aversion to risk of the past supports it. So going forward, it'll likely be well balanced teams that fit affirmative action goals, not the best person for the best job as it should be.
Personally I know quite a few folks on the fence about retiring that are now planning to leave, but what's worse is our talented folks are leaving or planning to shortly. Most are waiting to see if severance is offered. (Likely not since it's been backfiring).
Lastly.. there are just rumors, nothing communicated or solid that the Board of Directors is not happy with Tipsord and that he's going to be replaced.
If you search online, Bill Flick from the Pantagraph (a local newspaper) had a nice editorial last week - an open letter to G.J. SF's founder. It sums things up pretty nicely.
Ditto
Either way I won't be applying for work with State Farm ever again. This was once a company worth coming back for.
I've done the "laid off from State Farm" thing more the once, and I know how tough it can be to adjust to a different work environment after many years of learning one company's culture.
Last time, I panicked and jumped into the first job I found. This time, I've been taking my time re-skilling and figuring out what type of job I want and I plan to be a bit more picky. I can last about 10 months on the severance, if I need it.
Either way I won't be applying for work with State Farm ever again. This was once a company worth coming back for.