Don’t miss the comments. Two readers reported relatives only working 4 days a week now. Several others say this is meaningless. You decide.
By: Diane Benjamin
An email was sent to every associate at State Farm today. Does this sound like State Farm is staying in Bloomington? I’ve heard from numerous sources that employees locally will be down to 3,500 in 10 years. You decide:
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These rumors get so ridiculous. Only a very small percentage of the people at the 3 new hubs are people/roles being moved from Corporate. A vast majority (I don’t have a percentage) are people being consolidated from regional offices. GROWTH (that would have taken place here in Bloomington) will take place in the Hubs.As an SF employee, I am really troubled and annoyed that fellow employees are sending out information that, by itself, can be misleading (not gIving the whole picture). They are either trying to stir up crap, or just to ignorant to find out the whole story. In addition, they are likely breaking the code of conduct by sending you this article, as I am pretty sure this was “for internal use only” (and obviously for good reason).-Lane
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
Maybe they see the empty offices here that used to have people in them.
Smooth move Lane but I doubt you know the whole story. The writing on the wall is pretty clear, rumors are not necessary.
Also, it was NOT sent out as an email. It is an article on the Internal Homepage.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
Here’s a question: Why is State Farm making some of their employees take Fridays off without pay? Are they not busy enough here in Bloomington that they are telling SF employees they have to work only 4 days? I know this because my sister works at SF and she has been forced to take numerous days off without pay as a typist.
My son works at SF and his work week has been reduced to 4 days. His supervisor told him there currently are not enough catastrophes to generate enough work here.
SF may not move headquarters BUILDING out of IL but they can move the EMPLOYEES out of the BUILDING any time they choose.
This is the kind of rumor passing that is not helpful for our community and does not give credibility to you. The investment in buildings and facility here in BN is simply too high to walk away from. Those buildings and infrastructure are not really marketable to anyone, which was the basis of State Farms significant legal suit on property taxes several years ago. They argued that the buildings cannot be valued at usual value, because they are not likely marketable to anyone. That argument was accepted and values decreased and is in fact a very good explanation of the situation. It would be economically absurd to walk away from millions of square feet and all that infrastructure to leave it empty. State Farm is doing exactly what CAT is doing in Peoria, ADM in Decatur. With the “handwriting on the wall” that Illinois is not a good state to invest in, they are spreading their bets across several states, which gives them political clout across a larger base. It is expansion going there. That does not mean they are downsizing here. As for your “numerous sources” that the employee base will be reduced by nearly 90% here in 10 years, that is simply absurd. In an organization that big of course there are dumb employees spreading all kinds of rumor about all kinds of things. That’s human. You don’t have any credible sources and that’s the point. Those kinds of sources would not be talking to you. Stay on real stories and stay credible.
So who are they talking to Lee? You? Since (probably) none of us here get the inside scoop, shall we just ignore the situation altogether? If you think SF can’t walk away from that building then think Ford, GM, Chrysler in Detroit. As big as Corporate South is, it is beans compared to what Detroit used to be. Let history show that yes it could happen here.
If anything what they will likely do is less replacement of people who retire and look to replace manual processes with automation and need less employees.
I’d venture to say they will move toward allowing more employees to work from home (WFH) and invest less in buildings. IBM has been allowing employees to WFH for a number of years now and more companies are doing this too. Yahoo reversed their policy and pulled their employees back in and I’m sure a few left because of this.
I pretty much see SF having a foot print at Bloomington for quite a few more years. Who’s to say they may bring in a new CEO at some time in the future and change things.
From what I have heard the relocation to other places was to attract a younger generation. I mean really how of them want to move to boring Bloomington. Lets face it there isn’t much here for entertainment much less shopping choices. I really don’t consider grocery stores as shopping choices. Look how pathetic Eastland Mall is. Yeah just try getting someone to relocate from Schaumburg to Bloomington.
Welcome to corn country. Yeah this isn’t Chicago, or Phoenix, or Atlanta. Never will be. Embrace what you have and stop trying to be everything that you aren’t.
Hey MUDD! Ya left out the MITSUBISHI building! It’s STILL full till November -then SAY A NORA! Who do you think will buy it come May-Koos for a soccer complex, Tari for a hotel supply staging area, The NSA for a listening post for corn futures, or maybe just the KGB to breed flamingoes to spy on IS? Your call. I hear that it may be the NEW area 52 (as area 51 is getting full). Actually, it would be a GREAT complex for SF to buy and crash cars for road tests, as that’s what the NPD does there now-well, they try NOT to crash em.
If I were a bettin’ man, I’d put a dozen donuts on it deteriorating much like Detroit. Turn it back into farm land and grow some more corn. Better yet the State of Illinois should be legalizing pot like Colorado did as it could help this state out of it’s financial mess. Let it be a pot plant. Gi-normus pot plant.
I can see them doing that – drug the citizens so they don’t care.