Ameriprise Reviews in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Area

Pros

At least in my job, Customer Service, I get to feel the ebb and flow of the market everyday. I also get to work with coplex service issues that involve aiding advisors and understanding taxes.

Cons

First beef is the technology is old and unreliable. Too often the work I do is hampered by an inability to access core systems due to tech failures. Also it occurs too often that advisor phone volume is driven by tech difficulties.

Secondly, too many client facing positions are overseas. I understand the need to keep expenses down - but the only overseas jobs should be ones that NEVER interact with advisors and clients.

As for the prospects of advancing: Here's your job, do it. That's what it amounts to. There is room to move around within the company - don't expect to advance, though.

Advice to Senior Management

Bring down the fees charged to customers. It is not enjoyable to work somewhere that makes it so hard to be a customer. And fire the technology team. I have heard it too many times that we have the best technology in the industry. Yet when we acquired H&R Block Financial Advisors I heard it repeatedly that they did not feel the same way. So much so in fact that Ameriprise can't move fast enough to integrate their tech as the dominant model.

Pros

good benefits
transferrable skills
Interesting industries (brokerage related)

Cons

lackluster compensation
micro management
rigid procedures
inconsistencies with mid level management in policy adherence

Advice to Senior Management

compensation, compensation, COMPENSATION!!!! It does come down to dollar signs!
Attract entry level talent with the hope that they will stay... how so? Opportunities for growth and development!
Keep Middle management engaged. They need to be "refreshed" on best practices too!

Pros

Not a bad place to work. But if you're not willing to bust your butt to sell things you're not going to last very long in a financial advisory role.

Cons

Early level financial advisor turnover is high. You're not going to make a ton of money to begin with. If you approach it as a job, and not a career, you will get frustrated very quicky.

Advice to Senior Management

Pretty decent company. But the financial advisor/client relationship get kind of shady with advisor incentives to get people into certain products, which aren't always going to be the best option for a client.

Pros

1) Opportunity for career advancement if you are willing to work for it and prove yourself.
2) Good base pay and benefits
3) Strong senior leadership team

Cons

1) Bonus and other special pay is low relative to other companies

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing!

Pros

Very generous vacation policy. Great for support of work/life balance.

Cons

As with many companies, employee portion of health benefits has increased greatly over the last several years.

Advice to Senior Management

There is more to investing than mutual funds and annuities. More support for other product areas would be very beneficial, for clients and employees..

Pros

My department allows me the flexibility to get work done where and whenever, as long as I meet my commitments and drive business results. Career development is supported, but it is ultimately up to the employee to drive. As like many companies, it is large and takes time to navigate through. Very client focused and much better since the spinoff from American Express. CEO is very engaged in ensuring this business succeeds. Well positioned with a strong balance sheet to weather the economic storms and is able to take advantage of acquisitions as the market improves. Overall a great company to work for, even though the financial services sector has been beaten down.

Cons

Multiple lines of business are not always aligned with each other. Way behind on social networking... they use regulatory rules as an excuse not to consider the needs of the Millenials and others. Senior management at times likes to pontificate when they are not always close enough to the work. Finance area seems to have a lot of turnover. Like all financial services firms, suffers from guilt-by-association when the market goes down, even when it has low exposure.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the folks in the middle down 2-3 levels from the Executive team... they are more in touch with what is going on and what is needed.

Pros

Culture, diversity, opportunities, benefits, salaries

Cons

Leaders promoted unfairly with severely poor discipline practices for leaders who are proven to violate the code of ethics and/or company policy. Many leaders betray trust and confidence and continue to do so with little to no consequences for their behavior. Also, because this company is in the financial services industry, they are eliminating jobs rather than looking at other options such as reducing or eliminating bonuses and/or reducing the 401K match. Positions are being eliminated without any regard for seniority or tenure with the company. There were additional positions just eliminated in April that no one seems to be aware of. Somehow the company has managed to keep this from the public. Here's the irony - my position was eliminated yet I still received the annual bonus.

Advice to Senior Management

I truly believe that Senior Management is completely unaware of the practices going on by the leaders under them. I have had two leaders at Ameriprise proven to do despicable acts to me. I reported the incidents, sufficiently proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the acts occured, yet these leaders continued in their roles as leaders in the company with what seemed like little more than a slap on the hand. In addition, there is a woman in a senior leadership role in Investments who has very poor leadership skills. It's blatently obvious that her leadership decisions are biased, she sorely lacks fairness and objectivity, and cares little for the unusual life events that can occur in a person's life.

Pros

Having a job/$ during harsh economy; good place to start a career; very diverse-centric environment; convenient downtown Limmeapolis location

Cons

Communication from top levels dow is nearly non-existent; lack of pride in organization; too many inefficiencies in outsourced jobs; a mumber of "lifer" employees who bring minimal value to the workplace; as with all financial services companies AMP is struggling to keep stocckholders happy so employees end up a distant second; employee morale is at an all-time low; too many out-of-towners running the show when what is truly needed is some good old fashioned Midwest common sense in so many areas of the company

Advice to Senior Management

Stop saying one thing and being another thing - the IDS and Amex glory days are a thing of the past

Pros

The best reasons to work for ameriprise are the amount of training that you recieve from teh company. I am a financial advisor at the corporate office and if that is a field that you are interested and getting into Ameriprise is probabaly the best place to learn your trade. The atmosphere is pretty laid back which gives you an oppurtunity to sit back and learn.

Cons

The disadvantages are that you can get lost in the shuffle. It is a Corporate setting so in all corporate settings polotics come into play. It definately for the most part is a place you can get somewhere by who you know not by what you know.

Advice to Senior Management

I think they do a good job for the type of enviorment that we work in. Financial sales over the phone is not an easy job and they provide us with all the tools to be succesfu;

Pros

Ameriprise is always offering new and exciting projects to work on. If you are willing to roll up your sleeves and jump in, you are going to get a great deal of experience and exposure in the company. For me personally, I have developed my skills more than I could have imagined at any other company.

Ameriprise also does a good job with recognizing those who go above and beyond. Coming from a company where I felt unchallenged and under appreciated, Ameriprise has exceeded my expectations.

Cons

Ameriprise gives a great deal of discretion to senior management on how they manage those who work for them. While most of the senior leaders are encourage their teams to feel empowered to shape the future of the company, some do not.

Advice to Senior Management

Articulate your vision, then, get out of the way.