Symetra Reviews

Pros

Immediate 401k vesting, company matches up to 6%
Benefits: FSA, HSA, medical, dental, vision
Location of office building, close to shops and mass transit
Polite co-workers

Cons

Low salary, low job mobility for employees that have been with company for many years, expensive parking, $1000+ annually for subsidized parking in garage.

Advice to Senior Management

Competitive pay will keep intelligent and movitated employees.

Pros

* Great coworkers
* Casual dress code for IT
* Close to the Bellevue transit center
* CEO seems to be genuine

Cons

* From an IT perspective the CIO has surrounded himself with 'yes' people. Any suggestions for change/improvements directed at said 'yes' people are ignored and not filtered up.
* Recent organization changes have caused more VP's and managers, which now feel the need to micromanage IT employees at the front line.
* Flexible work schedules are going, going, gone
* They tout work/life balance, but expect you to be available to stay late/work weekends regularly.
* Women in upper management positions are few and far between (if they are in upper management, they most likely have been there since the Safeco days)
* Longevity is looked at as a bad thing. It is very thinly disguised they are looking for younger workers (the 20 something crowd) to fill the open positions to bring in fresh thinking. Total disregard for employees who have grown with the company; you have become irrelevant and outdated.

Advice to Senior Management

The goal for leadership this year is to make Symetra the place to be. While the gesture is great, the actions you are taking are not driving you toward that goal. Candid and frank discussion given to your VPs regarding why job moral is low (in IT at least) are falling on deaf ears, and in a few instances have been met with hostility. Also am alarmed at the lack of hiring females into upper management positions. You are turning into an East Coast good ol' boys club.

Pros

- Great people
- Company is committed to growing
- Flexible work environment
- Heavily involved in the community
- New ideas are sought out and we are trying new things again

Cons

- Some areas of the company need updating
- Continue to increase employee communications
- Casual dress should be increased to 5 days per week.

Advice to Senior Management

A strategy of a growing company is exciting. Make sure to give us more details on how this will be accomplished. Recent innovations in the product group and technology departments is a positive sign of change. Other areas of the company should also look for ways to think differently.

Pros

Great co-workers, really the best!
Adequate benefits
6% company match on 401K
Adequate equipment to do job
Close to shopping and resturants

Cons

Management has no respect for employees
Promotions are based on favoritism
Management is elitist and out of touch
No alternative schedules or flex time
Very old-fashioned in organizational structure and attitudes

Advice to Senior Management

Guys you don't work for The Harford or MassMutual or whatever big corporation you came from. You've created a highly expensive and unwiedly organizaton structure which will prevent you from acquiring all those nice stock perks if you stay with it. Oh, and take a close look at Group. It could make even more $$ if you go their expenses in line and forced them to use some automation.

Pros

the people are awesome. we have a strong history of working together. location is not bad. many of the first line managers are trying to soften the blow of new stupid policies

Cons

current direction is uncertain. policies have been put into place that don't seem to have been thought out. definately a what have you done for me lately

Advice to Senior Management

value people who have been here for a while. we have tried some things that did not work and you are doing the same darn thing, but won't listen to input. first company i have worked where i feel hostility from management

Pros

Benefits are consistent with other companies of Symetra's size.
Company location is an advantage; with transportation, exercise, eating places and shopping close by.
The lobby area is a great place to get away and just walk around or sit in a nice cozy bench by the fire pit.
The culture is generally welcoming at first look.

Cons

The product lines are each a culture unto themselves. Each product line operates completely differently and separately from each other. Deep divisions between the groups exist. Middle managers do not entertain ideas from their staff. Training is lacking and this is difficult for new employees. New employees must learn where they fit in the pecking order within their group. Employees with seniority are concerned with protecting the territory they've built over the years. The grapevine network is very powerful.

Advice to Senior Management

My first words of advice would be to stop rotating middle level managers. This practice allows management to evade real accountability and it prevents them from providing their staff with consistent and reasonable expectations. It also negatively impacts job performance. Employee morale is very low, people are afraid to question or speak out of turn. Pilot having executive managers show up at team staff meetings and have a real exchange of ideas with staff.

Pros

401k matching 6%
Insurance option are good
Discounts on commuting - vanpool with bus pass unlimited use 12.00 per month
Other commuting discounts ride share

Cons

Salary - it is forbiddent to tell anyone what your salary is. This is a disadvantage to existing employees who may have been with company for years and a new unexperience person comes in at same or higher salary. This also applies to new hires who may come in at a very low salary compared to others hired at same time with same skills.
Management is overworked and is judged on numbers not quality, which is a change from older models. Exising employees are at a disadvantage with this numbers driven model. Quality used to come first but with new CEO this is has changed. Newbies should do well.
Employee well being is not a priority. Any work life balance steps initated in the last few years have been dialed back with new CEO. They want butts in seats even if they are not as productive. Most work from home, job sharing or flex schedules have been revoked. This creates challenges for all employees, we all need to be able to take care of personal business including sick children, illness (don't want to spreed a cold) without using all of your sick days when you could work from home or work the missing hours from home or make up time at work. Used to love working under former CEO vision where employee were a priority.
Any complaints to HR are frowned upon. Management is favored in these compaints and the employee should watch out it goes in your file and you are marked as a trouble maker. HR should represent both the employee and management.

Advice to Senior Management

Employees that are treated well will perform better. The old model had a focus on employee's including subsiding costs related to work, free parking (currently about 80 per pay check!!), bonuses for successfully completed projects or assignments. Favoritism is a problem, even though the managers say they do not have favorites they do and who ever they are get away with murder. Micro management by many of the managers is sufficating, stessful and a hinder to the overall employee experience and performance.

Pros

Good pay and benefits
Opportunity to advance
Enjoy coworker camaraderie
Challenging and interesting
Never a boring day
Great place to learn new skills

Cons

Poor communication between departments.
Many employees have been there for a long time and are not proactive and have trouble thinking outside the box.
New management is very aggressive, but need to build out infrastructure more to accomplish goals.

Advice to Senior Management

Build the infrastructure of the company more. You can't accomplish big things if all you have are chiefs and a few worker bees.

Pros

It's a relatively small company where you can get to know people, there's interest and support for seeking new opportunities that will profitably grow the company, and they're actively seeking "outsiders" for new positions and replacements

Cons

New opportunities go to people "outside" and although there were promotions of some legacy staff following the change in CEO in 2010, those ultimately became demotions or no promotion at all as new hires were brought in at more senior levels. The diversity of the leadership, especially officers (AVP or higher), is almost non-existent with nearly all new hires being white and male. There's been exponential growth in the layers of executives and other staff creating a very top heavy company. The product and distribution strategies are focused on areas well outside of where the company has been successful with what appears to be an assumption of "if we build it, they will come".

Advice to Senior Management

Guys, you're not at Hartford or MassMutual anymore. Symetra is not a behemoth company that needs, or can support, the expensive structure you've put in place. It's not a company with the ratings and brand recognition you were used to at your prior companies so it takes a different "touch" to gain market share and recognition. Yes, it needs new direction and staff upgrades, but blend the old "scrappy" Symetra that had heart with the new, slick talent to support the company through the transition to the bigger, better Symetra you've been tasked with delivering.

Pros

- Flexible with schedules
- Work Life Balance
- Good Benefits
- Friendly People

Cons

- People are Promoted Based on Connections Instead of Skill, Knowledge or Education
- Once Management Has a Perception of You, It Can't be Changed. Have One Bad Year and You Could Be
   Stuck in the Same Position Forever With No Chance of Upward Mobility.
- They have "R O E's" that Everyone is Supposed to Follow, but Employees are
   Penalized for doing so.
- You Have to be Careful About EVERYTHING That You Say. Say What You Think and You Could be Fired!

Advice to Senior Management

I love the "R O E's". Please encourage your line managers and executive team to follow them. People shouldn't be dinged for pointing out issues that need to be solved. They should be rewarded for doing so because they love the business.