CNA Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

Big company with benefits and will be around for a while.

Cons

Big company where you are basically a number.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote because of skill not because of term of employment.

Pros

Lots of smart people, good salary and benefits, work life offered, previously had good developmental opportunities

Cons

Aggressive, back stabbing competition due to performance/bonus structure and layoffs, constant fear of being next to go. Lots of variability between departments, some really slack and you can make a long term career while others work nonstop and burnout. Poor management. Current HR team is a joke, lots of promotions in their ranks to VP but its favoritism not results and they do not get feedback/retention/succession/engagement results they should. They need to work with managers more and better.

Advice to Senior Management

Need consistent, aspirational vision and time to actually execute strategy - stop changing before results are in and laying off . Be accessible and learn from lots of talented staff who can teach you a lot more than you know.

Pros

The pay can be higher than at other companies.
The benefits are average to slightly above average.
The company supports continuing education.

Cons

If one gets in the wrong department, the work load can be very onerous. Work life balance can be non-existent. Senior management is trying to bring the company to the next level but the morale is suffering greatly because of it.

Advice to Senior Management

They should put more emphasis on taking care of the employees so that the employees can take care of the customers.

Pros

Great benefits package and good initial compensation package.

Cons

Education reimbursement nearly impossible to get from some managers even though there is clearly a budge for it.
You may go from being rewarded with bonuses for great service to nothing based on a whim of management.

Advice to Senior Management

When your people are working hard making sure that issues are resolved don't create more headaches for them. Help not hinder. Be honest and direct.

Pros

Good culture and work life balance

Cons

The work is not challenging enough.

Advice to Senior Management

Take the advice of the talented youth.

Pros

Nice people, can fly under the radar if you'd like, not a tremendous amount of pressure put on you

Cons

Can be boring at times. Management is always chaging at the top level. Too many new levels of management as well

Advice to Senior Management

Stop with adding all the levels of managment

Pros

Downtown Chicago location.
Landmark building.
Nice Cafe area.

Cons

Not much job training.
Not much recognition.
No job security at all.
High turnover rate (both voluntary and involuntary)

Advice to Senior Management

Build some culture and care about people. Grow them, not just use them.

Pros

Work life balance, PTO, opportunities for development, some very good, experienced people who know their business and mentor younger/less experienced employees

Cons

Corporate bureaucracy, politics, constantly changing goals, too many layers of management, some managers have managed to hang on even though they add no value and are very poor managers

Advice to Senior Management

Streamline upper and mid-management, some of the ideas at the top are worthwhile, but the implementation is inconsistent (see comment about streamlining) because managers are trying to justify their existence

Pros

Great people, challenging political environment (if you like that sort of thing) flexible work/family time.
CNA has some very good senior folks that encourage growth within your field of expertise which makes you a valuable asset to another company. Good pay, vaction time and bonus.

Cons

Many mid level managers feel pressure to lower team expectations and push for better results without taking time to mentor based on current internal goals. Big wins for the cost cutters at the expense of business value and user experience. Eexpensive and mediocre healthcare nbenefits.

Advice to Senior Management

Leverage the experience of long term employees and use better discernment (not just P&L) as a benchmark for retention.

Pros

a lot of good colleagues. Big company with lots to learn technically and how big organizations work or do not work well.

Cons

Some employees were back stabbing and some bosses were not that skilled at their work so a lot nonsense went on. Not much real opportunities for promotion.

Advice to Senior Management

listen more to subordinates and aim for the greater good more than just protecting areas or fiefdomes.