If you value people you treat them with dignity even when you can’t afford to keep them.
This is perfectly said, and it shows how much State Farm truly does not value its employees (those who are responsible for its profits.)
There is nothing dignified in the way they are handling this situation because they simply don't care. We are just numbers on a piece of paper for them.
Hopefully, treating their employees like this will be their final downfall.
Whether I’m laid off by S Farm or not, i certainly don’t want the company to fail in the future. What good would that do any of us or our future pensions? Even if we dislike Exec leadership and some other arses we’ve worked with, I think we would all agree that most employees are decent people and I would not wish any of those that remain I’ll will out out of envy or jealousy.
This is a very thoughtful post along with the follow-ups... and accurate in my opinion... refreshing compared to some threads here!
I agree with a lot stated in this thread, but I most certainly do not want this to be State Farm’s final downfall. Yeah, I may take my business elsewhere, but I still hope for success in the future for my friends there and the communities in which they are a part. Well, mostly Bloomington since State Farm’s success or failure won’t be noticed much in the hub cities.
I am the person that originally posted the statement above. I have been in big Fortune 50 companies outside of SF. I have seen a lot more than I can express in this post. I know hard times fall on companies. An industry tanks or even collapses.
But you do not have that in this situation. SF has plenty of cash. That cash allowed us to spend and hire with reckless abandon even when we shouldn’t have been. Doing that hiring with reckless abandon, not planning and not being a good steward of our money is now creating this drastic situation that is impacting so many peoples lives, communities, health and families. It’s irresponsible and the people that contributed to this situation should not be allowed to make the same mistakes again.
We are no longer responsible for the profits, that’s the problem. Their stock investments is where their profits lie. We are now a liability. How many times have you heard, “our biggest expense is our employees”. We are now numbers on a piece of paper. It is my thoughts that this is total downsizing of customers and employees. This is a purposeful downsizing of expierenced people. They think that they can force someone out who has tenure and a high salary to be replaced with one person with a low salary. As for the customers, State Farm can’t legally drop their “bad” customers in a lot of states. Therefore, if you upset the customers that file claims then they are more apt to leave. You don’t want those customers on the books anyway. I still have a hard time believing the latest jd power review of claims. My gut tells me they were paid off. A billion dollars in jd powers pockets would be pennies to SF with the 10 billion increase in net worth from stocks and tax reform. I think they will pull the old gas station trick. They will get their employee and customer numbers where they truly want them and then pull the “we are under new management” routine. Just my thoughts.
I agree with the OP and other related comments. Yes, at the surface SF just owes us a paycheck, but for those of us who have been there a while, they also promised us security.
As a result of that promise, we trusted them. I think it’s that betrayal & trying to plan for an uncertain future, that keeps me up at night. Yes, SF is a business but they didn’t have to apply cutthroat tactics.
Couple of thoughts: First - SF is a business and they came to that realization a number of years ago at least for the proximity people. They owe me nothing except the paycheck and benefits I have earned. I realize that is a pretty stark outlook but we have gone a long way from being a State Farm Family, which is very, very sad, Second - I agree that leadership has failed because of the way they are treating people. The staffing decisions for Fire Proximity are being made based on the zip code that you live in. Sad but true. How much more can you de-humanize the process. It doesn't matter what your job performance has been, what type of customer service you provide, or any other measure. Just where you live. Several of the top people on my team are competing for a position because they live in the same town, and one will be out of a job. At the same time, several low performers are safe because of where they live. This is truly a lack of leadership...
I agree. This entire process could have been done systematically with attrition and early retirement offers within the next 5 years. After all, everything they do is a 5 year plan! Well, up until now, and look where that got them!
If I'm laid off, our eight SF policies will switch to another company for life even if SF ever has the lowest rates. I will encourage my friends, neighbor's, and family to do the same. I will do the exact opposite for SF compared to what I've been doing over the last 29 years. Imagine if all 67K employees did the same? SF's world would come crashing down! To he'll with loyalty--- it's a two way street!