Aviva Employee Reviews about "management"

Cons

- No sense of urgency - Poor performance is not dealt with - No or hardly any room for promotion unless strong personal relationship with someone at senior management level

Cons

At the Aviva Group Centre there is such a poor handle on HR and talent management issues. In three years I had 10 line managers, and not once did a HR representative email or talk to me about these changes. The 6 monthly appraisal system is completely flawed and is just a tick in the box exercise. Talent Management practises strangely only are available from 'Head of' and above, which to me is completely backwards. Recent mass redundancies made it openly apparent that the organisation is extremely politically motivated and senior management therefore are hard to trust.

Cons

Too much outsourcing and senior management constantly making job cuts as a way of keeping on or cutting budgets If they get their head counts right, stick to it, dont decide to cut more staff as a result of needing to keep to budgets.

Cons

Management have no care over staff and much prefer developing friends from outside the area than internal improvement. Pile a lot of work on not many people and do not assist when needed.

Cons

Sometimes a bad work politics can take place

Cons

The internal structure is unrecognisable to what it was 3 years ago. Frontline staff are treated like 'bums on seats', and are expected to do the work of multiple people all on their own. Voice of Aviva feedback is not listened to - management gets defensive about frontline staff feedback instead of addressing the issues. The amount of internal restructures is mind boggling - your manager changes every 4 months, internal strategy changes just as often. Project opportunities are only handed out to people the management likes which contributes to a cliquey atmosphere. Direct staff are being replaced by agency staff from overseas, because they can be paid less. Middle management are defensive and uncooperative when you raise concerns. If you're looking for a job where you feel cared for and supported, avoid Aviva.

Cons

It is a very repetitive role.

Cons

HR - They are completely inefficient. I don't know of a single colleague who had a good experience with HR. If you have a grievance with management or you are seeking advice, you will not receive it. I saw HR business partners going to senior management with confidential information and telling them of private conversations and giving names. If your manager takes a disliking to you and is at a senior level, you will be given no support. HR once emailed around a confidential spreadsheet with salary information to a whole team that wasn't password protected. Colleagues would make appointments with HR members who would accept the invite and just not turn up to the meeting. Communications - Although general business updates are plentiful in weekly news round ups or video clips, communications with employees is generally poor. I accepted a role at Aviva Investors and on my first day was met at reception by my 'new manager'. The hiring manager who employed me had moved departments and HR/manager didn't contact me during the onboarding process to tell me of the change. Instead I had a new manager I'd never met before and who had zero people management experience. Culture - Although they do try to break down silos, it's not working. You don't get to know of other departments or people unless directly working with them. There is also a hire and fire culture. People (at all levels) will suddenly disappear. You will later find out on the grape vine that there were redundancies. This can be a stressful situation and with the constant hiring and firing it can be difficult to keep up to date with who to contact and what the business structure is. Senior Management - I sat in on certain meetings with senior management and I can honestly say I've never encountered such an unprofessional atmosphere. Senior management will use a business meeting to openly gossip about staff and spread rumours. If someone makes the slightest mistake the manager will be told to 'get rid' of the employee, this is even true of interns and graduates who should be given the chance to learn. I even heard senior management encourage sexism, discrimination and bullying. They would decide someone was a 'wrong fit' for a role and that would be the end for them. No constructive feedback, just told to leave. There were also comments made about women's appearances with a head of a business function being described as fat (she was pregnant). Any direct report who wanted change or made suggestions to their manager was described as a 'problem child'. Business strategy - The asset management part of Aviva still seems to be struggling to figure out what it is trying to achieve. There is a constant restructuring of senior management and teams. The CEO seems to have taken a step back from being a CEO and is almost acting as a CIO. This decision was made in order for him to be more involved in front office and investments. However, I don't think anything significantly has improved or changed since and I don't know what products they are focusing on other than AIMS which now seems to be a dead horse.

Cons

Lack of encouragement by middle management Takes far too long to hire new staff Upper management seem to take pride in running departments with the fewest amount of people possible Screening process for new hires takes far too long - this isn't the MI5 Not a great environment for people who are a little different - or at least my department wasn't.

Cons

Aviva Canada has been taken over by RSA management over the last couple of years. This has put a strain on employee moral. I found every new leader that came was compelled to make some sort of change without much thought or consideration for its employees. I do not know if it's an ego thing however the company is going in too many directions and work load is unmanageable for its employees. After leaving Aviva for a year now to another insurer the differences in management styles were evident. When I first started at Aviva it felt more like a team /family environment however the last year I spent there I felt more and more disengaged because of all the changes.