Good company benefits, behind on pay and bad for career progression
Pros
Really good benefits - holiday, sickness, product discounts, hybrid working and lifestyle benefits (carers leave, maternity/paternity etc). Great people. Good locations and offices. Trying to do the right thing for the community and social responsibility. As AVIVA invest in different products and markets it brings a great deal of job security. Amanda has done a good job of improving the performance and perception of AVIVA within the industry/investors.
Cons
Poor career progression for most - there is definitely an unconscious bias towards promoting those from select focus groups leaving the majority feeling disengaged. More focus on rewarding those who invest in side of desk activity rather than being good at your job - plenty of average people get noticed for shouting about meaningless activity. Limited opportunities for progression despite the few stories they post on socials - there has been a significant erosion over the last few years of more senior roles with responsibility being pushed down the organisation without addressing pay. Not particularly exciting work and a very complex organisation that has a lot of red tape created as a result of too many senior leads within the business - all have different goals and agendas; it can be difficult to get decisions. Pay has not kept pace with other companies within the industry - this has led to AVIVA struggling to recruit the best people (a lot of focus is now on other schemes - grad/apprenticeship etc to get numbers in) and they need to rely heavily on GSPs to fill roles (many of which do not have the experience or authority so end up relying on the permanent resources). GSPs get paid more than their AVIVA permanent colleagues so the advice would be that if you want AVIVA on your CV, seek out a GSP and get a placement this way.
