1st Central reviews

4.2

79% would recommend to a friend

(374 total reviews)

Michael Lee

86% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

1st Central has an employee rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on 374 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The 1st Central employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Insurance industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

374 reviews
2.0
Jul 2, 2019

Worst company I ever worked for

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good salary Industry standard holidays Sometimes a good bonus, not always though

Cons

Company goes through CEO's like Leeds United and Chelsea go through managers (Literally changes every year) Company stifles skills and talent Very cliquey, if you're not part of the gang you don't get listened to HR department is utterly clueless and unqualified to do the job Only pay statutory redundancy The company passes itself off as a "Technology" company, it's nothing of the sort - it's an insurer only, with outdated technology and staff who should have been sacked long ago for mistakes made

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1st Central Response
6y
Thank you for taking the time to write a review. I'm disappointed to hear that you feel this way. We pride ourselves in nurturing talent for internal progression and offer a range of opportunities, such as leadership training and apprenticeships, and encourage internal applications when vacancies are advertised. We're continually looking to make improvements to ensure our employees feel valued and cared for and employee feedback helps us greatly to achieve this. We gain this valuable information through a number of employee activities, including the Employee Consultative Committee, focus groups and surveys. I take on board that the recent restructure was a difficult time for you and everyone involved, and I'm sorry for the frustrations that you encountered; we will continually review and improve the processes that were followed. Unfortunately, as you were aware, improvements to our capabilities and processes have resulted in the business becoming more efficient, and a part of this was to review roles within our structure to ensure that we continue to provide a competitive service to our customers. During the consultation process, we continually listened to employee feedback, which at times resulted in making changes to the proposed structure, which may have had an impact on your personal circumstances. If you would like an opportunity to raise any concerns you have, please feel free to contact the HR team. Kind regards, Jo
1.0
Apr 14, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Have limited parking space on site.

Cons

I asked to work from home,they disagreed but allowed some employees to do so without explanations. When I started they left me alone set away from my team for 6 weeks they assumed that I was not vaccinated after that no apologies was given and will have to take legal actions. If you do good job your manager will not reward you. Colleague of mine did a great job and he gave up his lunch break for that but no one cares however, if you do a mistake everyone will be sending you via teams. Daily unnecessary morning meeting asking you how you feel today and shaming you next to your team if your productivity level was low the day before. If you come late for a good reason , they ignore the reason and ask you to work extra time and take it off from your wages. They choose the lunch break time for you, I remember I used to take my break at 14:00pm alone sometimes. The role based on 50% inbound calls like a call centre so you speak with customers who get angry all the time because of the extra money the firm charged them. If u need help around 16;55 pm from a senior they won’t help as they finish at 5 so you find yourself stuck on a call sometimes. Any recommendations you raised get ignored and treat you like a resource. Parking space is always full and have to park in the station and sometimes people take your parking space and when you raise that they will take it as a joke. If you take 5 min toilet break they will msg you instantly to check were are you. One day I was talking to IT on my personal phone as my laptop was not working and an unknown manager come to me ask me what I am doing ? Very silly environment. I suffered from unfair treatment and I survived in that micromanaging environment. I can write a whole article about this company I was in a department who no one cares about maybe or maybe this is one of the wriest insurance firm in the UK.

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1st Central Response
4y
Thank you for taking the time to review your time at First Central. I’m sorry to hear you left First Central feeling like you had a negative experience in your position at the company. We take feedback like yours very seriously. When our colleagues leave the company, they’re usually given the opportunity to undertake an exit interview where they can raise any concerns and feedback on their employment. This is important in allowing us to deal with any issues appropriately. If you didn’t get this opportunity and would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact our HR team. Kind regards, Jo
1.0
Nov 5, 2021

Avoid

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Hired during the Covid pandemic

Cons

Absolutely attrocious company, when I was suicidal due to the insane pressure to be back on the phone all the time, even after taking a fatality call. Your toilet breaks are timed. If you even dare do so much as cough on a call you will be penalised. They expect perfect work and will work you into the ground.

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1st Central Response
4y
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. I’m sorry to hear you left feeling that you had a negative experience during your time at First Central, we do take your comments very seriously. Colleagues who leave the company are usually given an opportunity to raise any concerns during their exit interview, so we can then deal with these appropriately. If you didn’t get this opportunity and would like to discuss further, please feel free to contact our HR team. Kind regards, Jo
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Glassdoor has 385 1st Central reviews submitted anonymously by 1st Central employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if 1st Central is right for you.