ALPS Funds Services Reviews

Pros

Relaxed Culture, Positive friendly environment

Cons

No communication between executives and staff

Advice to Senior Management

Care about the financial well being of your employees. We could go somewhere else.

Pros

Starting salary and benefit packages are good. There are some people who work there that do mean well, but unfornately end up getting caught in the extreme political climate at this company. The IT staff is awesome! They are very hard-working individuals and very customer-service oriented to their internal customers.

Cons

Management runs you ragged. I have been on my way out the door after already putting in a 12 hour day, but have been asked to stay if the customer called with last minute changes or inquiries to resolve. Once in awhile, okay, but it was frequent. Another example is that one level of management tells you one thing, then another tells you to do it another way, and still another wants it done differently. The lack of communication between levels leaves followers not knowing what to do or where to go for a straight answer. Myself and others have had senior officers throw papers back at us when dissatisfied with work. In one case I reported this behavior to my manager and was told to ignore it because the manager was having a bad day.

Advice to Senior Management

Ned Burke is a good, kind man, and I truly believe he is not aware of the types of behaviors his management staff engages in. What he should do is get a "mystery shopper" in to examine how his management staff treats and values staff. It will take three to six months to conduct this type of study, but it will be an eye-opener for Ned. There is a lot of thowing people under the bus in management meetings rather than management taking responsibility for things that go awry. If you are not part of the management inner circle, you will not go anywhere in this company. They stick together and if one blacklists you, you have no chance of succeeding. Also Ned should put the kabosh on after work bar activities. A drink with a client is one thing, but getting overly intoxicated in front of clients and staff is totally unprofessional.

Pros

-Decent benefits
-Relaxed atmosphere
-Great place for somebody to get their foot in the door in the financial services industry
-Ability to advance fairly quickly (but only to a certain level)

Cons

-ALPS is a service provider and therefore employees are viewed as an expense and not as a resource. Because of this pay is very low compared to the industry.
-Senior managers are not very trustworthy. If you aren't part of senior management's "circle" you can only expect to make it so far in the company.

Advice to Senior Management

-When the company was acquired the corporate culture and small company feel went down the drain.
-Its extremely obvious that senior management only cares about themselves and their pay day and nothing else. They treat themselves very well while everybody else suffers.

Pros

ALPS is good place to work right out of college to gain some financial experience and learn about the industry.

Cons

There is absolutely zero accountability for anything so the same mistakes are constantly made by the same employees because management is terrified of confrontation.

Advice to Senior Management

Discipline representatives and supervisors. Don't let them keep making the same mistakes with no consequences. Be proactive rather than reactive.

Pros

- work environment
- colleagues
- balnce of work/life

Cons

- limited growth
- salary limitations

Advice to Senior Management

N/A

Pros

Nice people. Cool Culture. Free RTD pass and healthcare. Nice office in a good location.

Cons

Pay is way below average. Entry level degreed people start in the mid-30's. Raises are single digits even in the good times. Management cares only about the bottom line, even at the expense of long term health of the company. ALPS is owned by a private equity company, which explains the short term view. Seems like everyone in mgt agrees with each other, thus they are not really open to doing things differently. No chance to move into upper mgt as they have been there forever and are not going anywhere.

Advice to Senior Management

make a greater effort to take a more long term view. listen to people who you aren't so buddy buddy with.

Pros

It is a young and dynamic company. It has grown a lot and the opportunities to advance within the organization are great. If you like to work hard and play hard this is a great place to work. The people are very nice and easy to get along with. When the company started becoming more "corporate" management made sure that the current employees were part of the process and their input was seriously taken into consideration. Upper management is very accessible.

Cons

If you are very serious and like a fast paced environment this is probably not the place for you. The professional environment is not always there. The pay is low, but the culture can make up for it. Most jobs in the company don't require you to put in a whole lot of hours. People either seemed to love it or hate it.

Advice to Senior Management

I would recommend that you pay your employees competitive wages. This will help with your turn-over rate.