After 15 years of time at State Farm, 3 CEOs, COVID, work from home, hybrid, and whatever comes next - I can safely say that this company is absolutely sc--wed. I dunno who in the chain: Farney, some random VP, or that consulting firm they hired last year thought it was a good idea to push us back to office more frequently - but at least be honest when you give us the reason. It’s micromanagement. Pure and simple. Don’t tell us it’s ‘collaboration’ because if that was truly the case they’d open operation centers again and push the former ops center employees into office.
I thought when Tipsord retired, we could go back to what we had under Ed Rust Jr. A State Farm where you were treated well, trained better, and could build a future towards a good retirement. Boy - did that not happen.
Farney has made it clear he portrays one heck of a down to earth boss but the truth is closer to a Hallmark movie villain. June 1 (in the middle of summer) parents and grandparents have to find people to watch their kids. And the company’s response ‘we got you a totally sweet discount - go check out this page in the intranet’. On top of that let’s talk about the costs of coming into the office. Virtual employees don’t pay for gas, don’t have to pay to go to work, don’t have to waste time commuting - but sc--w the rest of us. Worst career decision I ever made was leaving the ops center for a HUB for opportunity that never happened.
I genuinely hope Progressive pulls away, Geico passes us, and honestly Allstate (because they do 100% virtual). Maybe Bloomington will pull their head from the advertising backside and listen to employees again. Knowing this regime they’d pay a consulting firm who hires Arnold Schwarzenegger (at our expense) to tell them to be a good NAY-BUH to tell them we don’t like it - only to make us come in more.