Thread regarding State Farm Insurance layoffs

Several years ago, the crystal ball was telling Ed Rust that the Geico and Progressive asteroids were coming but Ed was hoping they would miss the SF planet. But they are still approaching.

Ed Jr knew this but did not want to start the culling of the dinosaur herd until after he left. Rumor has it that Ed Jr stated he regrets not starting the culling sooner.

Tipsord is not completely to blame.

Agree with earlier post - problems have been brewing for some time...years and years of poor decision-making to protect the status quo, and a lack of accountability on the part of our top leaders. And while it may not be his fault per se, the way Tipsord is executing change now is short-sighted. This company is not going to be saved by mere expense management and cost cutting techniques...duh, anyone can do that. What we all see happening is disappointing because it's not at all indicative of a company seeking a larger transformational change. Just because you buy new buildings in the city and redecorate Corporate doesn't mean you become a modern organization that can attract top talent - there are more engrained cultural aspects that need to be addressed -- those things are hard to change and take true leadership.

The problems we have did not start over night. Don’t get me wrong I do not care for Tipsord. I think he is doing us an injustice. But, problems started under Ed Rust. Tipsord is doing what Rust did not have the heart to do. It s*cks but is logical.

This all started when you put "numbers" people running the company and not "insurance" people. GJM is probably rolling over in his grave seeing these guys run his company in the ground. Terrible going from #1 to either #3 or #4 in a short time. Too much money to sell but a merger??

Tipsord happened to this company

The only thing I heard was at least one male bank manager was hiring only attractive young females. It was not a directive and there was repercussions for him. The attractive young females are still here though and have quickly moved up through the ranks. Not qualified.

When directors are saying we need more women in certain assignments that’s an issue. We need more qualified people regardless of demographic. I had a director tell me point blank we need more women in public facing assignments to make us look good.

It’s all a joke. Nobody is given opportunities based on experience or performance. There was a person who started in claims. Never worked in insurance before. Came from retail. Person completed Claim Rep training and did not work a desk more than six months at that. The claims this person worked was few and far between and not worked well. Immediately went on a Dev Op traveling hub to hub to help give suggestions on Claim procedures. WTH? Moved from Dev Op into Process Analyst. To date has only been with the Farm 5 years. Again WTH? This person is less than impressive and was given opportunities to which they clearly can add no value. Hey but during this time they earned their CPCU so that speaks mounds in the Farms world. This is only one example of why the Farm is drowning. The Farm has one to many people like this.

Amen to the last comment about a-holes. You hit the nail on the head.

In my experience, the only people with mandatory pre-selection for a special "assignment" are a--holes.

The “only looking for women for an assignment” is not true across the board. That’s not fair to make it a blanket statement. While that might be true in your department or under your manager (at this time) it is grossly not the case in other areas of the company.

Quite the opposite. In fact we give women special assignments just because they’re women. Just last week we had recommended some candidates for a special assignment. The manager in charge said that’s great but we will be looking for women for the special assignment.