underwriter

golf attendant

senior underwriter

grounds technician

bartender

Westfield Insurance

I Wanted to work at Westfield for years, and when I got hired in, learned how big a mistake that was. The computer systems were antiquated and the amount of work pushed on us was ludicrous. Management decided on "mandatory overtime" all too often because our department simply couldn't make their unrealistic goals - so we were perpetually in a state of "catch-up". I was even told to cancel a vacation day I'd put in a month beforehand because of their shortsightedness. 

The Benefits were great (couldn't argue with 3 paid weeks vacation upon hire) and the pay was fair, at least to start, but overall it couldn't overcome the many pitfalls. Advancement was nonexistent in certain departments, (especially if you fit a certain demographic, see below) and I watched as blatant nepotism was persistently a contributing factor in each of the promotions that did take place. 

Company culture was as toxic as it comes. For every intra-office event they had to compliment our progress or give us accolades, there were an equal number of times I felt I was being punished by the type of work I was given, because I had asked management too many difficult questions, or voiced a dissenting opinion on a better way to handle one of our many work-flows. Finally, Like most big companies are now doing, the needless injection of "wokeness" into the office environment served as the final straw for me. At one meeting we were told how problematic it was for the company to be so "pale, male and stale", engaging in a needless insult to the majority of the workers fitting that demographic. 

About the only nice thing I can say for the whole experience is their new office building and open work-space environment was a much needed refresh of the home office's look and functionality. Otherwise, I wouldn't go back to Westfield if they offered me double the salary I'm making now. 

Great history, but losing touch with its legacy and core values. There's very little inclusion, especially if you are not a leader, if you have been there more than a few years, or if you are a female. The company thinks the key to diversity issues is to avoid fixing problems and just hire new. There are many ego battles, power grabbers and toxic rock stars getting promoted, making up their own hierarchical titles, and bringing their buddies. Politics rule over integrity and hard work. A lot of redundancy because no one looks for the qualified talent within before they make up new roles. No career path. Lousy pay. Lost it's key strength, which used to be people and relationships first. There's too much arrogance at the top and little value for loyal employees and customers.

A good place to work if you're a chosen favorite of a manager and don't mind the very outdated technology. No overall company practice or procedure of fair treatment for all although they will tell you the opposite is their culture. Managers have a great amount of freedom to do as they wish with their departments and people, especially in field service offices. No oversight of managers whatsoever. If you're not one of the chosen favorites, you will get more work, less training, far fewer perks and be on your own most of the time.  If you complain, you're labeled a problem, could be the target of passive aggressive retribution and the corporate headquarters and HR department do not want to hear any negativity or even know if there is a problem.  If you're lucky to be a chosen favorite though it will be a good ride with free lunches, company paid travel,  office socializing, average work load, good raises and promotions. Its a lottery where you land and who your boss is.

Culture has taken a back seat with new leadership, the old culture of being a relationship based company is dead. 

Leadership team manages based on gossip and not fact. They lack competency needed to drive to real facts on the ground. This allows some leaders to make inaccurate public statements regardless of the truth and punish all who disagree. 

One of the company's core strengths, work life balance, has disappeared entirely as they request employees to work endless weekends to make up gaps in schedule that *they created* by ignoring repeated guidance from multiple teams.   

They value leaders *without* a strong background in IT even though those leaders are tasked with managing IT based teams. 

Over-reliance on large external vendors that do serious damage to delivery and add tremendous costs to the bottom-line of IT. 

Overly political leadership team.

I used to take pride in working here and now I wouldn't recommend this place to an enemy. Greed and the pandemic have killed dept morale. We used to get to leave early from time to time as a thank you, now we work OT and they refuse to hire anyone in Small Business and personal lines. Such things as Christmas gifts and team outings have been removed, silly maybe but a very nice gesture that goes along way. To move on you have to be a "favorite" this company promotes based on favoritism and if you suck at your job you can get promoted as well. If you work your butt off for them expect to die in that job. This company has decreased benefits since I started 5 years ago, I have a pension new hires do not. Vacation time used to be paid out if you left, now if you leave and used time off before you "earn" it you have to pay them. Senior mgt gets bonuses regardless of how the company does and lower level is lucky to see AIP. 

Of course, if you have a personal connection with someone you trust who works at a company, you might wonder whether you still need to look at employee reviews. The answer may be personal and depending on the relationship you have with this contact, but at the same time, it can't hurt to get a sense of what others say. If for no other reason than to assess morale and the overall feeling of others you'll be working with, it's helpful to get a sense of what other people are saying. Moreover, there are certain situations where your contact may know less about what it's like to work in a particular department or within a certain functional area and a job review can help you fill out missing details from a single third-person account. (In the case of Fairygodboss, you may want to hear from a particular group of people specifically, e.g. women or other minority groups of employees).

As a property representative there were no typical days, you could be at house fire in the morning and climbing a commercial roof in the afternoon.

You learned to expect the unexpected, shift gears with ease and address all customers with a smile.

Management had no prior experience in handling commercial or personal property claims.

I can't say enough about my co-workers. One of my co-workers told me they never had any fun in the office until I started working there...what a great feeling.

Safety concerns and work/home balance were a difficult part of the job.

The most enjoyable part of the job was not taking any work home to do over the weekend.

Compensation/Benefits - above average
Culture/Values - average
Job Security/Advancement - average
Management - below average
Work/Life Balance - below average

I was very excited to work for Westfield after the interview. I even payed for my own relocation which at the time was fine. Once I started working with them they had no formal training for my position. Very little written direction and less than helpful management involvement in the long term. I quickly realized that the company was very much a boy's club. My favorite award they hand out to employees is an "Atta Boy". As a women you can do fine as long as you keep your head down and don't challenge the system. Unfortunately I do question the system and do better with a company that focuses on my strengths not my weaknesses.

I really enjoyed my Leadership role at Westfield Insurance.  I led a customer service team for 19 years. The best part was dealing with the 1300 employees ( not at the same time or even same day) on a yearly basis. My co-workers and I had a special bond.  Even though I was also a friend I had respect as the Leader in the department. I lost respect for some management after they outsourced my department. I understand the economics of outsourcing but in this case it was hard to except. The hardest part was evaluations and getting outsourced. Not because I didn't want to do the evaluations it's how they wanted them done. 
The best part of my job was knowing everyday I was going to be busy and solving someones issue..

Westfield used to be a great place to be. The workload was manageable and you could actually provide great service. Now, they are so understaffed that you have one employee handling the workload of three or four. You get a ridiculous amount of claims each day, have so many overdue tasks that you can't get to, are constantly being bombarded with emails, phone calls, and text messages. It is nothing to have 15 voicemails in a day or receive upwards of 30 emails in a day. You have to pick and choose what gets done, knowing full well you have zero chance of ever being caught up and knowing that regardless of poor leadership decisions and not replacing OVER FORTY people who left, that you will be the problem and you will be reprimanded for stuff that is entirely out of your control. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Underwriter 4 salaries reported	$88,250 per year
Golf attendant 4 salaries reported	$12.75 per hour
Senior underwriter 3 salaries reported	$136,260 per year
Grounds technician 2 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Bartender 1 salary reported	$10.67 per hour

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