The case of the disappearing employee. - Accountant II AIG Employee Review

2.0
27 Jul 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The Accountant II position is considered an exempt position, and therefore overtime eligible. 401k match is 6%, and the company does have a pension plan. If you are starting out in the industry, you will learn a lot about insurance, both domestic and international. The health plan is good, and not as expensive as other companies I've worked at, but I've heard other people complain about the costs.

Cons

Culture: The current culture is hostile. During my first week, a coworker asked what I had done over the weekend. I answered that my partner and I had spent the weekend out of town. The very next day, management called me into the office to tell me that although they didn't have a problem with me being gay, I should keep my personal life "personal". Point taken...and in the last 5 years...i've not said another personal thing about myself for fear of retribution. The current RPR rating system is impossible. Goals are supposed to be written by March. I've gotten my goals the last three years in late June. The mid year review is in July. Each year, you are to rate your performance against your coworkers, providing specific reasons why you deserve a better grade than your coworkers. It helps to save information and documents that show coworker errors and submit them as part of the argument for your own grade. The system is set that a certain percentage must have a bad grade. Work life balance: It's slowly getting better. In my first year, I doubled my yearly salary with the amount of overtime I was working. To leave the office before your manager is unheard of, and generally we would leave after 8pm. Over the last year, a mandatory no overtime policy has been put into place. However, management will still schedule meetings after 5pm, thus you end up working for free. Career opportunities : Disappearing rapidly. The company has indicated that all finance and accounting positions are to be transferred to a "Financial Center of Excellence" were are located in either India or Colombia. The operations positions are being transferred first with an end goal of 2015. Overall, this will be thousands of jobs worldwide. Benmoche (the soon to be ex-CEO) informed employees in the New York City area that we shouldn't make any major purchases, as the future of our jobs are still unsure. Emailing colleagues becomes a guessing game, as when emailing someone who is laid off, the message will bounce back as "recipient is hidden". It is common to hear a gasp from a cubicle and the phrase "XXX is now hidden!" Compensation: Negotiate high when you join the company. There is a NO RAISE POLICY. The only way to increase your pay is to switch positions in the company, but the competition is fierce for these positions with so many people world wide being laid off. Be prepared and ask high.

Explore other reviews about AIG

5.0
11 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The 401(k) matching contribution is excellent.

Cons

Commuting to New York City four days per week. The schedule does not allow for remote work.

2.0
28 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Salary and vacation days are good but be careful you are not taking on multiple roles for this position.

Cons

If you’re considering applying, make sure to ask in the interview: Will there be someone else doing what I am doing? If not, the team is understaffed and all the responsibility will rest on your shoulders. Even with the vacation days, your days will be swamped and stressful. It is NOT worth it. Out of curiosity, I’ve been looking at their latest job postings for my department and there is so much packed into one role, it’s wild. You can tell the person they’re trying to replace clearly wore too many hats and it will be a long struggle to fill this position. Are my team members working in other time zones? You can face several early morning calls based on their hiring pattern. Some teams will require annual or quarterly traveling. Over the years, the company is hiring mainly white managers domestically in the USA, while lower roles are hired abroad or contractors. Meetings to accomodate offshore hours are brutal. What percentage of the day is in meetings? If you don’t have time to deliver on output because of meetings, you will likely have to stay late to complete the work. The company seems to hire very good talkers but not a lot of do-ers. Several meetings involved more people than needed. Managers seem to think “if I have to suffer through this meeting, everyone has to suffer”. If managers are fortunate enough to delegate the deliverables, they can handle some meetings by themselves. Who would be handling my onboarding and training when I start? If it is not your direct manager, your early success will be at the mercy of your peers who understandably are not responsible for onboarding you. Sadly, I have observed that the people-managers do not like to manage people. In fact, they value those that manage the manager and the team’s roadmap plan for them. The managers don’t seem to want to oversee the team or their deliverables. If there is a job change (salary, position, hours) how is that communicated? In my experience these things were not communicated or consented to. The change would apply in the system and you would have to conform accordingly.

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