ING – “Great if you can find a place you like, and don't have ambitions to move into middle management.”

Pros

Large, international company with lots of room for advancement. There are many opportunities to help you balance work and your home life, such as telecommute options. Parking or a bus pass is provided free of charge for basic parking 1-2 blocks from the building. If you're willing to pay a little bit for parking, you have options for better parking based on seniority and a waiting list, and the costs are subsidized. The bonus structure is comparable with others in the industry, and the paid time off policies are generous. It was not difficult in my area to get a timely request for vacation approved.

Cons

Most of the advancement is into middle management where you get a lot more work with very little additional pay, and you don't get to use the skills you gained as a lower level employee since most managers are glorified paper pushers. The pay scales could be improved for workers with skills above and beyond basic customer service. Heath insurance benefits are getting more and more expensive every year no matter where you work, but it seemed like they were more expensive at ING than other places that I've worked for lower quality coverage. Communication from upper management to middle management could be improved, and from middle management to "regular" employees could really use a boost.

Advice to Senior Management

Make an effort to inform your the managers under you of things going on in the company that pertain to their staff, and ask them to be sure that they communicate the information down the chain. Consider putting out a joint email memo with them. If you ever worked with Fred Hubbell, take a page from the way he ran Equitable before it was acquired by ING. Fred, as the CEO, made a point to learn the name and at least one thing about every one of the employees. It was not uncommon to see Fred in the lunch room talking to the "common folk", or for him to pass you in the hall, greet you by name and ask how your kids were doing. It always impressed me how approachable he was. A tiny amount of recognition from a member of senior management can work wonders for morale, and create a loyal, hard working base of dedicated employees.