Beazley Group Reviews

Pros

Small-company feel where jobs are not tightly defined so you can grow and build experience not available elsewhere without changing jobs, interesting products, innovative, can easily move to other departments for career advancement, autonomy over how you do your job

Cons

Non-hierarchical culture sometimes leads to slower decision making, harder to show career progression on a resume because there are no junior/senior titles

Pros

Benefits are good, profit related pay can be good if you work in an exceptionally profitable line of business.

Cons

Slow at everything, constant flow of meetings and away days that achieve nothing, bombarded with high work load, extremely low morale, flat structure, slew of incompetent people.

Advice to Management

Other than the executive team, middle management is stifling this company into the ground. Stop embarrassingly focusing on diversity and inclusion (we all know you're only doing this to tick a box and kiss regulatory butt for perception of a diverse workplace). Hire the right people not just anyone who will work here, Beazley used to be respected and now it's a laughing stock in the market.

Pros

Free lunch, good salary, relaxed environment

Cons

No training program, small desks

Pros

The people, culture and benefits

Cons

Really solid place to work

Pros

Good benefits including commuter, fitness and BYOD reimbursement. Extensive traveling opportunities depending on your role. Consistently improved WFH options and telecommuting capabilities. Excellent CEO, truly a class act.

Cons

My cons are solely related to my experience working with a particular team. Raises and bonuses are lacking - very little incentive to do well and hard work is not rewarded adequately. The team was a disaster led by someone who did not possess leadership skills or inspire camaraderie amongst the team. My work and reputation was consistently sabotaged by an unhappy person on my team, to the point that I complained to... HR and ultimately decided to resign and pursue other opportunities.

Advice to Management

Don't ignore the red flags raised by employees regarding the unfair treatment from staff who have been with the company for a long time and have adopted poor teamanship characteristics. Reevaluate HR operations and make sure HR team is properly staffed and adept at their job. I experienced lies, deception and inconsistency when I finally decided to consult HR regarding my issue with a senior employee who was... behaving poorly. Not a good look.

Pros

Culture at Beazley is amazing. Coworkers are very friendly, helpful and really want you to succeed at Beazley.

Cons

While my manager and HR have tried very hard to help me move up at Beazley, it is very hard to find another job because there are not a ton of positions available. It is nearly impossible to be an Underwriter unless you are willing to move to another state.

Pros

Decent pay, lunch menu, growth opportunities, down time, PTO, 10 year sabbatical

Cons

Down time, nosy people, pay wages

Advice to Management

Offer their time more to your subordinates.

Pros

CEO: Andrew Horton is a World Class CEO who not only genuinely cares about the employees at Beazley but also makes efforts in getting to know Beazley staff. I was 7 months on the Job and he invited me to dinner when he was in town in an effort to get to know me better, and we had a nice long chat regarding Wine and Travel. For arguably the most powerful CEO at Lloyd's, it is astonishing that he takes the time to... get to know those at his company. Perks: Beazley has some great perks which are very progressive and refreshing for the Insurance Industry. These include: Free Lunch, Daily Fresh Fruit, Commuter Reimbursement, Gym Memberships, Progressive Open and Modern Office space. While these perks are great, they do not make up for the below-market pay. PRP: If you can make it 3 years with the company, and are an underwriter, you will most likely qualify for PRP which is profit sharing. PRP is a real game changer, and while Beazley pay's below-market average for an underwriter, the PRP makes up for this after 3 years, as bonus's can be as much as 100% of salary (if you meet goals and and the team has good results). While PRP is definitely an eye catcher, I would honestly prefer higher up front salary, as PRP will be taxed to death and its not a guarantee.

Cons

This is where the 2 stars come from.... Culture is Changing: Beazley for the longest time had a very flat structure, which was nice as there wasn't as much bureaucracy and there was a more flexibility with underwriters, and underwriters were able to use their God-Given brain and intelligence to underwrite risks, market to brokers, and grow their book. This was great and attracted the necessary entrepreneurial... talent who could really take ownership in their book and grow it and with this came enormous amounts of success for Beazley. Well, Beazley USA has now surpassed 500 employees, and with this growth has come change. While change is not necessarily a bad thing, this change is, as operations are starting to become much more bureaucratic, and the entrepreneurial spirit which really made Beazley a household name for products like Cyber, is starting to be suppressed as the company is starting to become much more AIG'ish. While there is nothing wrong with AIG, that is not what Beazley was founded upon, and its unfortunate that a few managers in a few product lines have changed things so much that people decide to resign. I was proud when joining Beazley that the average tenure in my business segment in Professional Lines was over 10 years. That really spoke to me that Beazley had the "Secret Sauce" to keeping employees challenged, driven, engaged, and well compensated. The last 4 months have seen 10% of the staff in my business segment resign alone, and I foresee more turnover happening in the future. Inconsistent Expectations: I was interviewed, hired, and managed by one individual who really sold me on Beazley, the culture, product, compensation, and career opportunities. This person trained me, worked with me on referrals, and helped to set me on the path to success and growing my region. I was on a great path to success until roughly 6 months into the position, this individual left the company due to the issues which I had mentioned above, and I was sent to report to another manager. While this new manager told me he/she would not be a "Helicopter Manager" and would let me run my territory, this could not be further from the truth. While it is expected that there would be slight differences between managing styles within an organization, this was Night and Day, with the new manager having totally different objectives and expectations for the role than my previous manager had. This caused tension and frustration as my talents were not being fully utilized, which at the end is why I left the company. Beazley honestly has the makings to be a 4 or 5 star company on here, but there is a lot of management incompetence which needs corrected before they can become a great organization for their employees.

Advice to Management

As mentioned above. Senior Management, such as Andrew Horton, is world class, however, while Senior Management definitely has an impact on the day-to-day employee's job and role, the impact is much less than that felt by Middle Management. The issues with Beazley stem from middle management, and incompetence and indecisiveness running strife within this layer. Until Beazley can get the managers within the same... business segment on the same page (so underwriters arent being told 3 different things) I would avoid working for this company like the plague. Beazley has arguably the best cyber product in the industry, however, issues/indecisiveness within Middle Management, Constantly Changing Expectations, and the ability for the company to let go of anyone without a seconds thought make this company, for the time being, one which I would avoid. There are too many other companies within the marketplace which have viable and growing cyber products (Chubb, AXIS, Hartford, Travelers, AIG, NAS, CFC, Hiscox) to have to deal with the issues currently going on at Beazley.