Pros
I was getting a paycheck.... I will also say those with a degree and who possess the skills to move up and demonstrate that daily will get recognized, and likely rewarded with a "promotion". But be careful what you wish for at AFAS. Promotions at this place come with challenges you couldn't have imagined (Ethical issues) and with little to no pay increase. -Sometimes employees make more than managers. I'm not talking about the idea that a salaried manager inevitably makes less because they work more hours, I'm literally saying, some of the employees' pay rates will be more than the managers because of some poor decisions made by executives in the past.
Cons
This company sure has been through a lot. I survived 5 interesting years in hell here, but finally had to tap-out. The company was poorly run prior to the acquisition. -There's not time here for the giant list of cons I could make for those years, but let me just say, they conducted 3 layoffs in less than one year's time from December 2011 to October of 2012. So that should tell you some things. Oh, and that first one was poorly planned. Nothing says "we care about you" more than letting 160+ folks go two weeks before Christmas, with no prior warning to the masses that there was even anything wrong with the company financially. Since the Assurant acquisition in October of 2013, I've seen the parent company and old FAS working together to try to make positive change. I could also see the natural struggles that come with that too. Currently, the struggles are overriding the progress. There are too many of the old executives and upper management still holding their positions. The management team needs to rolled, and Assurant needs to lay down the hammer. There is so much dysfunction at all levels and across all departments, I don't know how the company is still operating. It makes me dizzy when I think about it, really. To wrap this up I'll throw about a few descriptive terms to summarize the experience shared by many there: Dysfunctional, Executives are out for themselves and not a cohesive team, all kinds of things are hidden from the newly appointed Managing Director, pay is low across all positions whether entry level or managerial, general staff is under educated at time of hire, and under trained/under prepared for the difficult and important job they are given, poor relations with vendor network, IT problems.
