Capital Group Reviews in Los Angeles, CA Area

Pros

Company has a great reputation and normally has funds that perform better than the market.

Cons

Management would have you believe that it is interested in innovation and collaboration, but new ideas are thwarted and upward mobility is limited. Layoffs of nearly 1,000 people in 2009 rattled the very foundations of trust between management and associates.

Advice to Senior Management

Practice what your preach, or loyalty will fly out the window. It's a new game now and it will be much harder to retain talent.

Pros

MRP and annual bonuses keep you there longer than makes sense for your growth and development.

Cons

Sr. Mgrs and Directors, at least in IT, don't know what's going on above them, therefore, have their hands tied as far as leading and directing the teams they manage.

Advice to Senior Management

Set a direction, create a plan, communicate it and then manage the plan directly. Have a stake in the plan and don't be a casual observer as things go wrong. Modify the plan, if/when needed, even if it means tough decisions like pulling insufficient resources off a project.

Pros

Good bonus structure for long term employees; great place to retire; Over qualified associates who are willing to help new hires; great horizontal communication that allows anyone to communicate with non-senior leaderships without restrictions; 25% discount at company cafe (Irvine campus); relative job security compared to the industry;

Cons

Slow growth rate - it usually takes 5+ years for an average associate to be considered for promotion, or 2+ years for an exceptional associate. Double those years for the 2nd promotion. It is not uncommon to see senior managers (2nd tier manager, or department heads in charge of 2-3 teams of 5-13 people each) rising to their position after 15 years of working in the company. Decisions by committee - it is common to have junior and middle management meetings that leads to no decisions other than "we will meet again to discuss this topic in two weeks." Middle managers are sensitive to not "rock the boat" or change the status quo. Trouble makers are not tolerated in this environment. Middle management passively follows senior leadership's decisions without fully understanding the spirit and strategic goals of such decisions.

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership is lacking from the middle manager level and down. Middle managers should be encouraged to seek improvements and generate new ideas and values.

Pros

Benefits are pretty good; Bonuses for very tenured, high performing associates seem to be pretty fair; generally speaking, you have good co-workers

Cons

lack of promotional opportunities; advancement to middle management appears to be based on tenure with company rather than performance; can come off as elitist and a "you should be honored to work at Capital" attitude

Advice to Senior Management

Ensure you really have your finger on the pulse of the employees and understand their struggles, what they expect, how they really feel about the company.

Pros

CG has a great reputation in the industry, and they have a lot of smart people working for them. Regarding benefits, the amount of vacation time you get right off the bat is the best I have seen - almost 4 weeks from the get go. The retirement plan is also top notch, however the health care plan is one of those 80-20 splits, so not the best. Pay was pretty good with the bonuses and overtime included

Cons

I had many coworkers who had been in the same position - the one they started in - for 5-10 years with not much chance for advancement. This company really does not like to promote much from within, prefers to hire from the outside.

Advice to Senior Management

Have the HR team be more upfront about the limited promotion opportunites. Develop some internal career coaching.

Pros

Benefits - 401K, MRP, Health Plans, locations

Cons

Micro Management
Favoritism
Secretive
working on US Holidays

Advice to Senior Management

Management should be honest and less secretive. If management would listen and pay better attention they could see which associates really work hard versus the ones who do not perform.

Pros

Excellent salary package i mean MRP , 401 K

Cons

No chance of promotions, people dont leave until they retire so growth is like a turtle , sometimes arrogant top management guys , late adopting industry trends , moving a lot towards off shoring , always have the fear factor of getting bangalored . Low base salary ?!!

Advice to Senior Management

nothing is going to change

Pros

the company had friendly employees who were all very willing to help.
company's training program is extensive and will make sure you know your things before letting you start working.
pay was decent compared to similar opportunities at different companies.
company has open-door management policy, where 'any' associate can go up to management with any issue they have.
the company tries to focus on employee retention

Cons

knowledge learned on the job isn't applicable towards other jobs, the systems & applications are all in-house.
ever since the lay off in 2009, management has completely changed, associates who used to look forward to coming into work now dread it & fear getting laid off.

Advice to Senior Management

rehire old management to reverse the attempted restructuring of the company & make the company a "great place" to work for again.

Pros

Great salary and benefits - bar none!
Decent work/life balance
Some great people
Decent communication

Cons

Leadership has lost the long term view the company was founded on
Jobs are narrow. If you are a senior level manager coming from somewhere else, you will lose some of your skill set. CG tends to structure jobs with narrow responsibilities that run deep but are less broad.
Due to low turnover - advancement opportunities are limited for most

Advice to Senior Management

Conduct 360 feedback reviews for leadership - a lot of leaders "manage up" very well - but are not strong leaders down the chain...The incentives can keep senior managers complacent in their performance..

Pros

Benefits are pretty outstanding (one of the best I've seen) and they advertise their "total" compensation package as being very generous. This is true when you consider that they multiply your salary by 15% and drop that into a pension account for you and let it grow in their mutual funds. People are pretty nice for the most part and offices are updated. Upper management is easy to talk to and usually willing to listen. Opportunity for advancement is there and definitely supported by upper management.

Cons

Things take very long to take place. Since it's a financial institution, projects and such move at a slower pace... to ensure that security is not breached and that no application breaks. Don't expect things to happen overnight. And don't expect to advance as quickly as you'd like although the opportunities are there.

Advice to Senior Management

Involve your fellow teammates more in your decision making process. Enlist some representatives of every class and make a sort of senate committee to ensure that voices will be heard when thinking of implementing new ideas or changes.