Foresters Financial
Foresters Financial Employee Reviews
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Management is hard to work with
Mail Services Associate (Former Employee) – Toronto, ON – 16 January 2018
The manager in my department depended on some of the older employees who have been with the company for over 10 years who spent their time gossiping and telling tales of other employees who did not meet their expectations. Most of these employees did no work and were still praised, and the newer employees had to work really hard in order to complete their work and the work of their seniors, but are not appreciated or recognized for the amount of work done and time spent. We often had to stay extra hours in order to complete the work, and were hardly paid over-time for our work.
a great company to work at
Learning and Talent Management Coordinator (Current Employee) – Toronto, ON – 30 December 2017
I enjoy working here. I have worked in two departments. Different management styles. Silo mentality.
some managers are really good, while others need coaching. good company to work for
some managers are really good, while others need coaching. good company to work for
Pros
benefits
Cons
lack of planning
High stress, low reward
AVP Producer Services (Current Employee) – Toronto, ON – 29 October 2017
Very demanding company to work for if you're in a front line service environment. Striving to perform exceptional service capabilities with sub-standard IT support has been a challenge for several years. Heavy dependence is placed on operational teams to overcome key strategic decisions around insurance and technology infrastructure investment.
The core staff at Foresters is fantastic. They continue to perform their job functions with great pride despite not having the necessary tools and support to perform their role.
The core staff at Foresters is fantastic. They continue to perform their job functions with great pride despite not having the necessary tools and support to perform their role.
If you like managers breathing down or neck constantly this is the job for you
Service Centre Representative (Former Employee) – North York, ON – 8 June 2017
Did not enjoy working for this company. The pay was good, but you are very micromanaged and there is very little chance of professional growth or advancement available. Also the clients are primarily American and can be very hostile when they realize they are dealing with a Canadian company.
Pros
Good pay and benefits
Cons
Long hours and miserable unhappy clients
terrible
Mail Services Trainer (Former Employee) – Toronto, ON – 30 April 2017
the management does not care much about employees and most department managers could care less about who work there, especially if you are under contract. all they want to know is that they reach their daily goal and they do not recognize employees for their hard work. tell-tales are encouraged and most employees who have been their for a while, are able to spend their day doing almost nothing and get paid for it while new employees have to do their work and the work of their seniors if they want to keep the job
Good location, great CEO horrible atmosphere
CSR - Customer Service Representative (Former Employee) – Toronto, ON – 22 February 2017
Overall the people are great and the company is awful. No room for advancement, you have to be liked by management in order to be "released" to another dept. Or have a family member that has some tenure, otherwise you're stuck!
Employees that actually do quality work are over looked and come across as slackers vs reps that take 70+ calls per day that are undocumented...many of those calls produce call backs.
Management is a JOKE several a* kissers that get others to do their work and they take credit.
Need to hire more staff as callers tend to wait 20+ mins to speak to anyone and are irrate before you can can get to the reason fir their call.
Agents lack knowledge and submit business they know won't stay on the books but long enough for them to get compensated. Their comp is pretty good too.
The only good thing is some of the benefits they offering their members...like the emergency disaster relief but they have to wait 8 weeks to get it. So much for emergency benefits.
The CEO has a great personality though, dispite being American.
Employees that actually do quality work are over looked and come across as slackers vs reps that take 70+ calls per day that are undocumented...many of those calls produce call backs.
Management is a JOKE several a* kissers that get others to do their work and they take credit.
Need to hire more staff as callers tend to wait 20+ mins to speak to anyone and are irrate before you can can get to the reason fir their call.
Agents lack knowledge and submit business they know won't stay on the books but long enough for them to get compensated. Their comp is pretty good too.
The only good thing is some of the benefits they offering their members...like the emergency disaster relief but they have to wait 8 weeks to get it. So much for emergency benefits.
The CEO has a great personality though, dispite being American.
Pros
Location, salary
Cons
Have to work Canadian holidays. Lack of quality management no room for advancement
Regressive and stuck-in-the-past culture - Stay away from this company
Customer Service (Current Employee) – Toronto, ON – 17 January 2017
Pros:
There is work-life balance in some ways because the management does not keep track of their employees very well. There are some veterans in the company who hardly spend 50% of their time doing anything valuable; in fact quite often they are not on project and not even in the office but they are still paid high salaries and no one dare question them. People are free to make mistakes and even new employees make mistakes and they do not let them go.
Cons:
1) If you are a young, ambitious, eager to learn person I would suggest avoid this company at all costs. Here are some reasons why:
a) There is no proper onboarding process for new employees. New people just have to learn on their own without any guidance from management or other employees. There is no proper documentation on processes, systems etc.
b) The caliber of people in the company is very low. Even the senior managers have very little awareness about managing people and processes. Most people have lot of insurance knowledge and nothing more than that.
c) Management has not kept itself upto date on the industry changes and hence operate as if it is still the 1980s. The maturity level in the company is very low.
d) Old timers tend to form a cabal of sorts and generally keep a new employee out of it. They also do not like it if a new employee proves them wrong or does better at work than them. So essentially new employee has to give-in to the old timers even if they are very wrong. New employees actually suffer if they prove the old-timers and/or the management wrong however diplomatically it is more... done.
e) Most projects and work is very in-efficiently done and takes at least 50% more time and resources to get done as compared with other companies.
So essentially, the growth for the new employee is only in terms of insurance knowledge and it is entirely upto them to learn it. The old timers and management is so scatter-brained and behind times that it will feel claustrophobic. It will be like the fable of a frogs in a small pond. Even if a new frog comes to the pond and explains new techniques etc. the old frogs will never understand because they cannot understand something they have never seen. It can be very frustrating to get any work done. less
There is work-life balance in some ways because the management does not keep track of their employees very well. There are some veterans in the company who hardly spend 50% of their time doing anything valuable; in fact quite often they are not on project and not even in the office but they are still paid high salaries and no one dare question them. People are free to make mistakes and even new employees make mistakes and they do not let them go.
Cons:
1) If you are a young, ambitious, eager to learn person I would suggest avoid this company at all costs. Here are some reasons why:
a) There is no proper onboarding process for new employees. New people just have to learn on their own without any guidance from management or other employees. There is no proper documentation on processes, systems etc.
b) The caliber of people in the company is very low. Even the senior managers have very little awareness about managing people and processes. Most people have lot of insurance knowledge and nothing more than that.
c) Management has not kept itself upto date on the industry changes and hence operate as if it is still the 1980s. The maturity level in the company is very low.
d) Old timers tend to form a cabal of sorts and generally keep a new employee out of it. They also do not like it if a new employee proves them wrong or does better at work than them. So essentially new employee has to give-in to the old timers even if they are very wrong. New employees actually suffer if they prove the old-timers and/or the management wrong however diplomatically it is more... done.
e) Most projects and work is very in-efficiently done and takes at least 50% more time and resources to get done as compared with other companies.
So essentially, the growth for the new employee is only in terms of insurance knowledge and it is entirely upto them to learn it. The old timers and management is so scatter-brained and behind times that it will feel claustrophobic. It will be like the fable of a frogs in a small pond. Even if a new frog comes to the pond and explains new techniques etc. the old frogs will never understand because they cannot understand something they have never seen. It can be very frustrating to get any work done. less
Pros
Work-life balance
Cons
Extremely poor management by senior and executive managers, poorly aligned roles and responsibilities; close-minded culture and largely uneducated people, career advancement only for people who spend their evening chatting/flirting with bosses
Foresters Financial
Creative Lead, B2B North American Marketing (Current Employee) – Toronto, ON – 19 September 2016
A typical insurance company, but with a non-profit designation in the United States which makes them different from other companies. Volunteer activities goes a long way.
Great place for learning/improving skills
Quality Assurance Analyst (Former Employee) – Waterloo, ON – 15 August 2016
BlackBerry was a competitive company and environment to work in. New technologies were the culture of BlackBerry at my time. The best part of the job was when we launched new product and had a good share of market in those days but must admit that wasn't there at the end that put lots of stress on us.
It's a nice Company
Bilingual Service Representative (Current Employee) – Toronto, ON – 6 August 2016
Foresters Financial is a great place to work, it is a nice company everyone would like to work.
The security is high, employees are friendly but leaders are not fair to everyone. Too much pressure on the job because of the volume of incoming calls.
The security is high, employees are friendly but leaders are not fair to everyone. Too much pressure on the job because of the volume of incoming calls.
Pros
great salary
Cons
too much pressure
Not the Best Place to Work
Legal Assistant (Former Employee) – Toronto, ON – 24 June 2016
I only worked at this company for a few months before I had to get myself out of there. I did not enjoy the work environment at all. This company has a very bureaucratic atmosphere. I am not sure if this was due to the personality types or perhaps because they are a heavily regulated industry.
Many of the people who work at Foresters have family members working there. There are also many people who have been working there for years and years which tends to make management stuck in their ways and unopen to new processes and procedures. If there was something new introduced, the bureaucratic culture means it would have to be discussed a million times, a new policy be made, branded and so on. Even for the smallest things.
Working at this company, depending on your position, you will be watched all the time. I had a number of meetings constantly on things I needed to improve or do differently. Always in a negative fashion. I didn't feel it was constructive criticism. It was just criticism for the sake of having something to report.
It is also very cliquish. Depending on your friendships with people or management meant getting away with certain things.
All in all I did not enjoy the work culture of this company and there needs to be a big overhaul internally.
Many of the people who work at Foresters have family members working there. There are also many people who have been working there for years and years which tends to make management stuck in their ways and unopen to new processes and procedures. If there was something new introduced, the bureaucratic culture means it would have to be discussed a million times, a new policy be made, branded and so on. Even for the smallest things.
Working at this company, depending on your position, you will be watched all the time. I had a number of meetings constantly on things I needed to improve or do differently. Always in a negative fashion. I didn't feel it was constructive criticism. It was just criticism for the sake of having something to report.
It is also very cliquish. Depending on your friendships with people or management meant getting away with certain things.
All in all I did not enjoy the work culture of this company and there needs to be a big overhaul internally.
Pros
Location if you do not want to be downtown
Cons
Culture, management, work/life balance
Not a good company
Sales Consultant (Former Employee) – Toronto, ON – 14 May 2016
Basically if you stay to yourself and only want to do your work you are disliked. If you ask for updates and refresher training to get updated on the laws you are called dumb and slow. You have to suck up to supervisors in order to avoid write ups or to get away with unprofessional behavior at the workplace.They have no regard or consideration to their employees.
Pros
just talking
Cons
no training