Ameriprise Reviews in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Area

Pros

Good pay
decent benefits
people are friendly
nice view of downtown Minneapolis
indoor parking (for a price)
flexible schedules
extensive training including licensing

Cons

unhappy workers, especially in the call center
insurance is too high, does not cover preventative care
care more about metrics than the customer experience
some employees are expected to work themselves to death while the person next to them doesn't
no opportunity for growth or advancement unless you know the right people
management has a tendency to look over the hardest working individual to promote the one who adheres to the metrics
goals for employees are too strict, especially in the call center

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to what your employees are telling you, especially when they insist there is nothing wrong with how they are conducting themselves or doing their jobs. Review the metrics, but do not base whether or not the employee is productive on how long they are working on calls once they have hung up. Do not ignore your employees when they have medical problems, and try to be understanding. Be supportive of your employees and they will be happier within the company.

Pros

Pretty good benefits. Not a bad company overall.

Cons

Questionable quality of employees. Low pay.

Advice to Senior Management

Cut some of the fat.

Pros

Good place to work, Support from Management was good, Technology was adequate, the tools to do your job were provided. Development of employees is provided, "Just in time". (You don't get it unless you ask, and document why you need it.)

Cons

Tough to move up. Many things are based on your job band, and you are treated accordingly. (example: my job band in one position during my career did not allow me to have a window seat in the building, so a non-employee was positioned there instead.)

Advice to Senior Management

Stop the outsourcing! Sending American jobs overseas might help the bottom line in the short term, but will NOT help our economy.

Pros

Very diverse enviroment, with opportunities and freedom within certain jobs. Management is very sensitive to creating the proper working enviroment.

Cons

Cubicle land is kind of a nightmare, I don't like the restrooms (not enough privacy) and the onsite food is not great and a little too expensive.

Advice to Senior Management

As with all management, they need to listen more to the people closest to the work itself when making decisions that are going to affect those people.

Pros

The vision and mission of financial planning is important to the people who work there and they believe they are adding value to our communities. Senior management works well together.

Cons

In Finance, the culture has changed in the past few years to be more focused on getting things done quickly, but with the same high expectation of quality. Unfortunately, those two things cannot always exist at the same time without people burning out.

Advice to Senior Management

During the 500 job eliminations of 2009, they showed great class and respect of people in the way they communicated what was happening.

Pros

The company is willing to invest in technology and has a solid focus on doing what is right for the client.

Cons

Compensation is lacking and it is challenging to get ahead and advance your career. It seems like you have to leave the company and then come back to move forward up the Ameriprise ladder.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend money on quality consultants. It seems like to often we are using sub par Project Managers and BA's

Pros

Overall a good place to work. I've been here 15 years through AMEX and now Ameriprise so I've seen several cycles. It's like any big company with ups and downs but for the most part, at my level (Band 35), I feel like I'm treated fairly.

Cons

Can be somewhat political. Several lines of business aren't always aligned. Communication from the top can take some time to trickle down because of the layers of management.

Advice to Senior Management

Salary review!! Trust me, you are in the bottom half of similar companies in the Twin Cities. Actually show you are acting on recommendations from the employee survey.

Pros

If you just want to be a robot, then this is the place for you. The benefits and the vacation time are great, when you are allowed to use it.

Cons

This place will suck out your soul. If you have ambition or talent don't bother working here , as you will never get to use either.

Advice to Senior Management

Clean out ALL your management from Director down in this area. Unless you are into heavy drinking you will NEVER get anywhere, as that is how you get ahead, drinking with the boss.

Pros

Large company, lots of internal opportunity, decent work environment including on-site cafeteria. Company-paid training for Series 7 and Series 63 licenses.

Cons

If you don't like call center environments, you won't like working in customer service at Ameriprise. The systems reps have to use are somewhat antiquated and don't necessarily coordinate with each other.

Advice to Senior Management

I think management has done a fairly decent job of managing the company through this latest downturn. Continue efforts to streamline internal systems.

Pros

Flexible work schedule, opportunity to control your career with commission job. You have the opportunity to affect one of the most important areas of peoples lives which is their finances. Great product support and information avenues.

Cons

Company is going through a ton of changes. Hard to determine where the company is going and how you fit it.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide more clarity of firm direction and initiatives.