Pros
The benefits are good here. For me, the healthcare options are sufficient. There are some people who you can learn from.
Cons
There is definitely a closed-mindedness amongst the employees here. I once thought that it would be good to be at a company where there are people who have worked there for 10, 20 30+ years. Then, when I joined the Standard, I came to the realization that working with these people is tough as they truly believe that everything they do should be easy to comprehend as it is the only possible way to do things. They seemingly have never been exposed to other ways to solve the problems they face except for the ways they have always done them, which oftentimes is quite inefficient. Therefore, for someone coming in fresh, there is ususally a communication barrier between the newbie and the "old-timer" that never is overcome. A vast supply of fresh blood needs to be infused in this company before it's inefficiencies drive it into bankruptcy. The Retirement Plans group will probably be the first to go because of the situation described above. In short, there are some smart people, but unfortunately way more closed-minded people here. The Management structure here is based almost 100% on knowing someone higher up, and meetings are largely a waste of time as the management doesn't really know what is going on and therefore can't communicate anything worthwhile. Also, I have given up trying to even speak or ask a question to management as you are essentially looked at as a "dissident" for even talking, no matter if what you had to say was good or bad. A very stifling culture indeed.