assistant underwriter

W.R. Berkley

W.R. Berkley makes itself out to be this company that stands above others in terms of how they treat and value their employees. If your birthday falls on a weekday, they'll celebrate it with cake in the afternoon, with William Berkley (the chairman) in the room. Awesome experience. Holloween costume party (pre/post-covid, of course), and a giant bag of fancy goodies during the winter holidays. However, a few recent drawbacks have set the work environment in a questionable direction (in my opinion).

Berkley is very old-fashioned. So old-fashioned, that even in the era of Covid-19, they refuse to allow any employees to be even partially remote. In March of 2020 when the pandemic started, they were one of the last companies in the NYC metro area to switch temporarily to remote work. They were also one of the first, in the Fall of 2020, to resume in-person work. Exceptions were few and far between. While other companies in the area are adjusting to the times and implementing either long-term fully remote or hybrid remote/office work schedules, Berkley will be fully in-person as far as I am aware. Moreover, they are located in Greenwich, CT, and have a high turnover rate - and then they wonder why there are constant understaffing issues. No overtime pay, I might add. This is probably the worst thing about working at the company and seems to be a fairly recent trend (exacerbated by the pandemic).

Management poorly communicated employee performance and good performance rewards. As a new employee, I was not aware of the rubric for annual performance review until it actually happened more than one year into employment. Then, surprise, surprise - you could have performed better. Well, that would have been nice to know a year ago. Or better yet - it would have been nice to know the rubric that would be used to grade each aspect of performance BEFORE one year's worth of work was on the books. Not only would this benefit the employee, but it would also benefit the company as it would get the optimal amount of effort out of their employees. 

Finally, on a cheerier note, almost all employees and co-workers were extremely kind, helpful, and understanding. Everyone was always eager to help one another out, even at the expense of working late and going outside the scope of responsibility. This was the best part of working here, and what I will miss the most. 

WR Berkley is a good company to work for. The company is growing and at the corporate level is very well run. I worked in BTS (effectively, the IT department across all operating units), which transition to new leadership a few years ago. This leadership was focused on cutting expense, reducing budget, and procuring off the shelf systems. This type of work did not interest me hence my departure.

For me, the most challenging part of working at Berkley was balancing the needs of each operating unit. Each operating unit largely functions as an independent organization with very little communication or coordination across OUs, so each has its own set of objectives, goals, and desires. Most teams will be required to support multiple operating units which will require prioritizing one OU's work over another. This can be quite challenging at times.

I work with some really smart people whom I have learned some good best practices from.  I like the people here on a personal level and they are pleasant to work with.  Management is less desirable.  The machine I develop on is significantly under-powered to handle the size of the project and even though I have noted this, management has not replaced it.  The worst problem is the tremendous amount of technical debt on the project.  There was some significant effort to reduce this before I arrived, but has had little effort since.  This results in making new features significantly difficult to deliver.  I have to make do with what I am given and the work has become tedious.  My manager also seems to dwell on negative aspects rather than being positive in my interactions with him.

Overall Berkley Corporate is great. But each operating unit is allowed to operate however, they see fit with no continuity or controls. I am in probably one of the worst operating units that I’ve ever seen. Bad upper management, no middle management, no direction, no communication. Management has outright said that we are just there to say yes to whatever whim they have, regardless of our experience and knowledge. Oversight and micromanagement is ridiculous. You will spend up to 2 hours a day just accounting for every minute of work that you are doing or planning to do.

No room for advancement. Lots of favoritism and dated thinking. Very egocentric personalities that will launch a personal attack if they are asked any questions. Very siloed. Lack of feedback from management and definitely not the place for someone seeking to accomplish something or is career oriented. Good place to go if you are looking for a slow and nearly retired career level or are just starting out and not interested in a fast paced or challenging environment.

Worked for this company for about 2 years and the happiest I was in my tenure was putting in my two week notice. It's all about production and you are on your own 100% of the time. If you want to work in an office with people and be social, if you want a work and life balance, if you want fair compensation, continue your search and don't second guess your decision. If you do decide to interview, ask a lot of questions about systems, procedures and overall goals of the department/company. If you can't get a straight answer, decline the job offer because you will get an offer. 

Overall the CCIC office in FL has been a positive experience. The team is close knit and allows for discussion on a variety of topics to improve the organization.  

There is a significant amount of pressure to perform and staffing is tight so the overall work life balance is a challenge. Management is highly supportive of taking time off and regenerating but given the workload it’s not always realistic. Compensation and culture are both strong. 

CWG was a good environment to work in with respectable management and co workers. Pay wasn't great and there was little to know opportunity to advance. Job stability was low. Sister affiliate is the Agribusiness side and I strongly would advise to avoid this area. 
If you're a back stabber or a "yes" person then its the place for you. 

Poor Management, No advancement. Its not about what you know but who you know with this place

Isolated, scattered, Siloed, and a dead end. Manager with Trust issues, paranoia,  and empty offices. Certain employees favored over others. Your typical terrible full time IT operation.  Terrible Medical Benefits which are very cheap and hard to use with a hard work life balance. NO WFH. Isolated culture just go in and do your job and leave. Good stepping stone but not a place that feels like family.

In my almost 10 years here I have met some incredible people who have become my family and life long friends which also leads to a great working environment, the team work here is amazing and everyone wants to accomplish the same goals so we all work together and no back stabbing or negativity.

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