Emperor's New Clothes - Anonymous employee WTW Employee Review

2.0
Apr 15, 2012
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great team environment with strong cooperation and willingness to assist at the working level. Very diverse and friendly place to work with good facilities at head office. Middle-Senior Management very accessible, particularly at Willis Re.

Cons

Incredibly shortsighted in terms of planning, strategy and cost saving, with often contradictory messages constantly being spouted by the Orwellian management, who lear jet around the world in the lap of luxury, while the rest of us are flying 9 hours in cattle class. Very much a case of Emperor's New Clothes, with no one able to challenge the CEO. View is very short termist and shareholder (his shares) focussed. Has no real knowlegde or respect for any clients outside the US. While mid-senior management's doors are always open, above a certain level, its like a cult where everybody is in thrall and dare not say anything to offend our dear leader. Senior management seem delusional and no longer trust their employees, other than to break their backs for them. Constant flow of propaganda as to how well we are doing with pointless awards and publicity a very poor subsitiute for adequate pay and rations. When you do receive a "bonus" it is in the shape of "retention award", which you need to pay back if you leave. With this sort of approach, the place is becoming very stalinist and there is no real recognition for huge personal sacrifices people make day in day out, other than a pat on the back. Regardless of results, there is always an excuse for disappointing remuneration, hence talent retention at an all time low. Many parts of the Group perform very well, but we pay the price for poor decisions at the senior level which materially impact results and have a negative impact on the bonus and salary pool (not to mention sending out great leader into a fury!).

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5.0
Jun 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Wonderful, intelligent colleagues, very collaborative, interesting work, lots of opportunity to move around the org

Cons

Risk averse so it’s slower to invest; penny wise but often pound foolish

1.0
Jun 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Learning everything about Life insurance, annuities and health

Cons

They are quite two-faced. Thry gas you up thinking you are doing well then turn around and terminate you for any slight. For instance---you must be on camera during training but we were told if we were sick or not feeling too well, we can ask for accomodation. With the understanding that it would be taken into consideration. Well...it isnt. They throw it back in your face. They do not like criticism. Say something wrong, you're done. They listen in on the classes and even if they think you said something the complete opposite of what was said and taken out of context, they do not care about the truth for you bruised their ego. Do not believe them when they tell you you are doing good during training. Its more about how much you want to be under WTW's influence. In other words, NO CRITICISM IS ALLOWED. I would write more but this should suffice.

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