Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Former Employee – worked at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney as an intern for less than a year

Pros – Morgan Stanley has a great work environment where everyone is willing to help each other out. The employees work very hard and in turn get rewarded for it.

Cons – I was only working at MSSB for a short period of time so I don't really have anthing negative to say about the company. However, just like at any other large company your role can seem very small.

Advice to Senior Management – I enjoyed the management at my office.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Formerly well-managed, could possibly become so again
Good corporate culture with well communicated initiatives
Good benefits

Cons – Frequent changes in structure, products, services which negatively affect customers
Company claims to make optimal use of employees skills and experience but this is not true, if you are in a position beneath your abilities it is almost impossible to become better matched
Be careful if you are hired as a financial advisor because their business model is set up to use you for your contacts and network and then give them to "tenured" advisors.

Advice to Senior Management – Change your business model so that you have specialized each of sales/marketers, portfolio managers, and service personnel instead of making your advisors do all of these roles at once. Because advisors have to constantly bring in more business, they neglect their clients portfolios and performance suffers. Also, make it mandatory to re-assign the over qualified employees.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney full-time for more than a year

Pros – Service-minded culture which includes not just our customers, but an active participation toward charitable organizations as well.

Cons – Recent company software updates sometimes hinder branch workflow.

Advice to Senior Management – Fix company software issues.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney as an intern for less than a year

Pros – The hardworking and welcoming staff made the office culture and overall environment a great place to work. Any and all questions I had were welcomed and thoroughly answered, and the staff as well as management team made accommodations to ensure I received full course credit for the work I did.

Cons – I truly cannot think of a negative aspect as the experience I had was extremely educational and rewarding.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney as an intern for less than a year

Pros – Prestige of working for one of the top investment banks, great learning opportunity, great networking, beautiful office

Cons – Long hours, unhappy employees, definite hierarchy structure

I worked with one CSA (essentially secretary) who was completely incompetent, rude, and moody yet had not been fired, let alone spoken to about her unprofessional and rude actions

Advice to Senior Management – Provide incentives for lower level employees (CSAs) to actually complete their work in a timely matter

Current Employee – been working at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good training program that allows you to get licensed and trained to be a financial advisor. Co-workers are some of the best advisors in the industry.

Cons – Managements lack of understanding of the business. Focus is on top level producers and not trainees.

Advice to Senior Management – Focus on the future of the business which are your trainees. Baby boomer FA's are nearing retirement, then what?

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – None to praise about after joint venture with MS. Things just went downhill fast!

Cons – - Healthcare was changed Blue Cross Blue Shield to United Healthcare for benefits... costs went up as well
- Technology and policies cumbersome
- Management does not listen... it's all about the bottom line
- No room for advancement at branch level- approached management to try something new in career- was constantly told... yes we'll work on that, and yet nothing happened. Just getting lip service
- at mercy for advisors to pay you extra and bonuses. Firm base salary very low
- It's all about the FA"s.... operations and other staff are a line item... extra cost for the firm.
- no recognition for doing good work
- absolutely no flexibility for work/home life balance. Only the FA's get that luxury.

after the merger, things only got worse, horrible management, backwards policies, more paperwork.
Overall stressful place to work in. After 15 year at Smith Barney, it was time to leave. Leaving the firm was my own personal decision. It was a dead end job to nowhere.

There was also frustration with FA's in the office as well, they were not listened to by management.
Payout was decreased.... for certain accounts. They are all for pushing their own MS products.
Also frustrating to FA's was the abundance of fees being charged to clients with assets lower than a million.
MS is trying get into Wealth Management and get the million and over clients.... majority of millionaire clients are already established. There first choice would not be MS.... most wealthy affluent people manage their assets with other high end banks that do cater to the rich no fees, elegant offices etc.

MS is a wanna be and they should just give up......

Advice to Senior Management – Recognize your employees for a job well done--- whether it be a lunch, bonus, extra time off.

More flexibility for operational staff and support staff- with work and home life balance.

Increase pay!!!!--- the only people you pay well are the fat cat FA's and managers with insane salaries and bonuses.

Listen to your employees.... however... I take it most of the management are "Yes" people for corporate in New York

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney full-time for more than a year

Pros – They hire some of the most intelligent professionals in the industry. The learning potential is massive, turn over is not very high and employees are loyal. This is a fantastic company to work for.

Cons – I cannot think of any cons other than typical company politics.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – large company opportunity in sales

Cons – non-sales opportunity is all in NY

Advice to Senior Management – na

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

Pros – Nice People
Brand Recognition
You are not micromanaged, management is hands off as long as you reach your numbers

Cons – It's all a numbers game, with the employees as well as prospective clients. In regards to employees, instead of focusing on quality, management hires Financial Advisor Associates (those entering the firm without an existing book) in high numbers and then weeds out nearly all -- including the most talented. Very high risk job regardless of the strength of your background. Promises of upside compensation are not realistic for 5 - 7 years in the business. Expect to make next to nothing after your 18 months of salary is up (Literally $30K - $50K).

Stress level associated with the job is incredibly high regardless of who you are, my entire class felt this way. Extremely high turnover. A lot is luck, I literally saw one person stay on when he didn't make his numbers for an entire year and then another person lost his job in the first 3 months and he had just barely missed his numbers (it's all based on the company's timing, you never know when they are going to do mass cuts).

Advice to Senior Management – Focus on hiring qualified candidates and give them more support, you have to be losing a fortune with your current model of burn and turn, but you do keep the spoils of accounts from those you fire. You're diluting your brand through telemarketing and dinner seminars.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend