Pros
PFG is a global company, but a great majority of its revenues come from the US. A separate company, Principal International, manages international operations. The good side of this is that individual country divisions are allowed a lot of freedom to set policies, and that management is usually local and knows its market. This flexibility means that corporate culture is not rigid, toxic and full of internal strife, unlike "global bureaucracies" like Citi. The company regularly makes the top 100 ethical companies, and has made the "great place to work" list at least once or twice. The company is known to be fair and to tell its employees about what's going on. Our country division offers a lot of flexibility to part-time workers; mothers love it. Our country division has good management. They're down-to-earth, friendly people that you can greet by their first name (or nickname) in an elevator. They have a fair idea of what they're doing, and when they don't, they have a good habit of leaving decisions to those who do know what they're doing. There's a lot of financial expertise in mid-upper management. The atmosphere is usually polite, friendly and understanding. Work hours and load are very reasonable, and as long as you do your job, no one complains if you arrive a bit late or leave a bit early. There's some elitism: the closer you are to higher management, the better you have it. But it offers decent internal advancement opportunities if you enter in at a low level.
Cons
When I said Principal International is separate from the US companies, I meant it. Some departments have a good working relationship with US counterparts, but it doesn't amount to much. There's no transfer program and little opportunities for advancement. Pay is mediocre; I've been offered twice my current salary by other companies 3 times during my 2-year tenure. I suppose it says something about the company in that I didn't accept the competing job offers, but my decision had to do with false expectations. The company has a nice attitude towards married couples and working mothers, and that's great, but it offers nothing to those who aren't working mothers. There's some training courses, but they don't amount to much. The company will never pay or help you in higher studies, nor offer attractive benefits to young, unmarried people. Working part-time is fine, but forget about stuff like working from home. The company has a no-nonsense, down-to-earth attitude. Everyone knows what their job is and what they're expected to do. There isn't much interest in innovation. Every workplace says it's open to changing things, but those who give attention, encouragement or a budget for it are rare. Principal isn't among those rare companies. It's not a bad company, but there's just not much to keep you in it unless you treasure the ability to keep a nice work/personal life balance. You're not going to get anywhere.
