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Principal Financial Group

Engaged Employer

Principal Financial Group reviews

3.8

71% would recommend to a friend

(2,584 total reviews)
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Deanna Strable

81% approve of CEO

67% positive business outlook

Principal Financial Group has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 2,584 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Principal Financial Group employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Financial Services industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
1.0
Mar 20, 2017

Dinosaurs still roam in Des Moines, Iowa.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

One of the few things to evolve beyond the Triassic period is the flexibility for some jobs to work from home. Benefits are decent as is the pay. Senior level management seems to genuinely care and want to serve as good role models.

Cons

Sales management in the benefits division is crusty and reptilian. Lifers in the home office are straight off the set of Madmen -outdated thinking and tolerance for sexism, ageism and homophobia in the sales offices. If you're a sales person and you have xy chromosomes, you're at the top of the food chain. And don't try to innovate - you'll be punished.The best thing that could happen to sales management is mass extinction...

1.0
Oct 10, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Climate-controlled office. Indoor plumbing. Briefly spoke with a celebrity on the phone at my oh-so-glamorous call center cubicle. Having learned that I will never work at such a horrible company again.

Cons

Feeling like a number in a large, hierarchical, dysfunctional organization. Micromanaged to cellular level. Pretty much stuck at my cubicle the whole day without much freedom to walk around.

3.0
Mar 11, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company, awesome big company perks, and has a mostly great overall culture. Work schedule is sorta flexible, they don't care if you're late if it is less than 30 minutes you don't even have to call in. You can flex up to hours per week with management approval. Some people can work from home. I have almost never had a problem getting time off. I have met Dan Houston in passing a few times. I shook his hand and saw him at the grocery to once, and he spoke. I have never met any other CEO in a casual setting.

Cons

My direct boss is not a critical thinker. My department requires a college education for even the lowest level entry job but my manager doesn't have one. My boss is a dinosaur that doesn't know how to use our computer tools or interpret new data beyond the obvious. Honestly, the type of general incompetence that my boss displays as a manager is like none other that I have seen. I also I think this person has a bias against black males or perhaps males in general. My boss does not remember names of guys that report to them and usually makes decisions that lean toward women when a disagreement happens even if they are obviously fundamentally wrong when compared to guidelines. There is not a lot of ethnic diversity and not a lot of diverse thinkers. When I was hired I had more work experience than my peers that started at the same time and 4 year college degree. Yet fresh graduates get paid more than I do who started after me. I think that it is possible that some of the resistance that I have felt could be because I am a minority. I am not say that my coworkers are bigots, I am just treated differently. It also doesn't help that my direct manager has been creating a negative narrative. I can't give the culture a high score because I am being mistreated, even though outside of my department has been a completely opposite experience. Benefits are not as good as Wells Fargo. Their might have been a lot of opportunities for me but my manager has made advancement and even transferring impossible. HR is not really responsive. They never followed up with me even via email. I would never recommend my company or department to any black male. Outside of that I might recommend them a non minority if I got a paid referral. 6 month outlook? I am sure they'll be around but sometimes I wonder. My department percentage of the overall revenue stream is probably less than 1% overall.

Viewing 25 - 27 of 2,584 Reviews

Glassdoor has 3,074 Principal Financial Group reviews submitted anonymously by Principal Financial Group employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Principal Financial Group is right for you.