FM Global Reviews

Pros

Diverse and rewarding work environment with plenty of room for advancement in the Operations, when you have an engineering degree. Good compensation when considering the overall benefits package.

Cons

The Executive and Senior Management at the corporate offices can be a bit too traditional and a better process to elicit fresh talent from the Operations is needed to keep pace with today's employee, and client needs.

Advice to Senior Management

It is difficult to entice operations experienced talent to move to the corporate offices in Johnston. New ideas for regular integration of fresh faces with client-facing experience are needed.

Pros

Totally enjoyed working with colleagues. Everyone worked together to complete projects on time. Everyone strives to do produce great work. There was a very good sense of team work and camaraderie.

Cons

Managers were constantly getting in the way of progress and micro managing. They took all the credit when a project was successful and gave the subordinates all the blame when it was not successful. It is also a company who depends a lot on their engineers for running the business and therefore it is the engineers who get most of the focus. There are a lot more opportunities for employees who have engineering degrees than there are for those who do not.

Advice to Senior Management

Honor all of your employees and have opportunities for all to progress in their area of expertise. There's a need for more management training as there was a proliferation of micro managing and little tolerance for those who made mistakes along the way.

Pros

Satisfying, stable, good work and home life balance, flexible work schedule and good benefits.

Cons

The pay seems lower than other avergae salaries

Advice to Senior Management

Some senior management are removed and do not mix with employees and can't feel the heart beat of the employees. That is old school. It is not a motivator for the 21st century kind of place. The CEO is different from that and his example should be followed.

Pros

The benefits and compensation are very good. The company at a whole is a nice place to work.
There is a team spirit with co-workers.

Cons

Communication is not upto my standards. A clear picture is not always presented to team members. There is a level on contradiction.

Advice to Senior Management

Correction is needed in the follwing areas:
Communication is not upto my standards. A clear picture is not always presented to team members. There is a level on contradiction in verbal and written commnications.

Pros

Stability, the company has been around 175 yrs. Strong executive leadership. Excellent benefits, flexible work - life balance. Ethical colleagues who care about what they do. Excellent client first mentality.

Cons

Just the location for my commute to and from work. It is hard to find anything wrong with the company when comparing it to my last experience. They do have a tendancy to keep employees who are not engaged and should have been tranistioned out long ago.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what your doing - just less meetings. Learn to think outside the box a bit more. Some with more tenure are stuck in the legacy traditions and need to take risk and try new ways. Less paper and more e-file.

Pros

After many years in the manufacturing sector I elected to take a job opportunity at FM Global as a Field Engineer. Technical training is second to none; no expense is spared in preparing employees for work as a Field Engineer. Working from home offers great flexibility, but personal discipline is required to ensure the required work is done in timely manner. As an engineer the world is your oyster at FM Global. The majority of senior management are engineers, most of which started out in the Field Engineering role. There are numerous opportunities to advance to Underwriting, Claims, Client Service / Account Management and Account Engineering. Also, as a Field Engineer, FM Global pays for your home office (telephone, internet, monitor, printer, etc. provided).

Cons

Generally speaking my experience at FM Global has been very positive. However, that sentiment is not shared by many of my co-workers. In my experience engineers usually do not make very good managers. There are of course exceptions to this, as I've witnessed both at FM Global and at previous employers. There are several Group Managers and based on discussions with my coworkers their aptitude ranges from very good right down to not so good. I firmly believe that some of this is due to the inexperience of the new hires. Most are fresh from University and not surprisingly don't have the aptitude in the "real world". That being said, I have heard many stories of managers lacking compassion or sense, often putting corporate dogma ahead of employee's wellbeing.

Advice to Senior Management

If FM Global is a large building, Field Engineers are without a doubt its foundation. The company's livelihood depends on their performance and likewise their happiness.

Pros

Great company to work for. The benefits are second to none and management communicates regularly with employees. Technology is not cutting edge as the company is not an early adopter, however a large investment is made to proven technology overall to and employee development.

Cons

The company is equivalent to a country club or retirement home. Ineffective and incompetent employees are allowed to remain in positions despite the fact that they should be terminated. Bad managers are allowed to remain and poorly manage people/waste money with no repercussions.

Advice to Senior Management

Start reviewing performance and making organizational decisions based on real business intelligence.

Pros

Very good and thorough training. Opportunities to work at various locations aroound the world. Good performance rewarded at salary review time.

Cons

Organizational inertia makes it hard for change to be initiated. Micro-management culture in Engineering management. Little credit or acknowledgement or credit is given to fire protection/loss prevention research beyond FM Global Data Sheets.

Advice to Senior Management

Perhaps be more open to fire protection/loss prevention ideas and practices that have originated from sources outside of FM Global i.e. remove the apparent insular approch that is currently in place.

Pros

learning new technologies and good work experience

Cons

not too much work for co-ops

Advice to Senior Management

should provide more work for co-op

Pros

LEEDS Certified headquarters, great perks-excercise gym, caferteria, health care. Upper management very strategically focused. Use of state-of-art technologies..

Cons

Use of state-of-art technologiesand applications produced are not always user-focused. A lot of data entry; however, better than it used to be.

Department management is a good old-boy network who are biased towards a select few, This only produces cnicism in the workplace. While some get the promotions and perks, others in the department are feeling disenfranchised, powerless, and unappreciated. (comments based on both observation and direct experience).

Managers need to go to bat for all team members (don’t pick and choose), especially in tough situations. For better or for worse, employees expect some developmental help from their manager. Allocate meaningful responsiblities and opportunities to all team members.

Advice to Senior Management

Review and revamp policies. Make HR more visible. I don't even know who my HR representative is? Have an HR advocate that one can confide in without fear of retribution.