The worst experience of my life - Business Development Executive Aon Employee Review

I had the worst experience of my life working as a BDE in the Reinsurance team at Aon. I was enticed into the role under the premise that I didn’t need to know much about reinsurance, that proper training would be given, and that while they were more office-based, they seemed aligned with hybrid working – which was important to me as I was working hybrid in my previous job. No one mentioned mandatory in-office days or fixed hours. Once I started, I quickly realised how misleading everything had been. There were internal calls every day at 9am and 5pm. They expected me to be in the office every single day even though the contract didn’t state that. Training was virtually non-existent and instead of being supported, I got picked on for every tiny mistake. I was given personal comments, like how living outside of London (despite a commute that was under an hour door-to-door) would jeopardise my career, because the rest of the team (just 2 line managers) lived within walking distance and just enjoyed being in the office. Things came to a head when I had my first ever panic attack due to a particularly stressful tender. The explanation I was given was vague and high level, and they didn’t really understand reinsurance themselves – they just liked going line by line through 200-page decks and nitpicking how each sentence sounded. During the panic attack, I told my line manager, who took me to a room and insisted I stay in the building and 'calm down'– without offering any help or knowing what to do. I told her I needed to be outside, I felt trapped. She still insisted I stay. I eventually said I was calling my GP and leaving. I was signed off sick for 3 months. Even before that, everything was micromanaged to a ridiculous level – even how long you were away from your desk. But when I returned, they finally let me WFH one day a week (Wednesday only – no flexibility) and constantly brought it up in weekly catch-ups that because the rest of the team was in 5 days, I wasn’t 'aligned'. I was accessible, doing my work, but that didn’t matter. Eventually, they put me on a PIP to push me out. HR was useless. I raised everything and was told they were on the team’s side, and that Aon encourages conflict resolution through 'direct conversations with your manager'. That same manager who made me feel completely unsafe and unsupported. After I left, I reached out to a girl who was in my role before – she told me she quit because of the exact same team. I later bumped into another colleague who said even a senior manager they hired from another firm quit after 6 months, saying she had never been spoken to like that in her career. At least I lasted 1 year and 3 months. Honestly – if you ever get approached for a BDE role in the Reinsurance team at Aon, RUN!. No job is worth sacrificing your mental health over