SEI Investments Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

Campus, food service, benefits, co-workers, attitudes, enviroment.

Cons

Management structure and transparency, location, pay.

Advice to Senior Management

More appropriate pay across jobs and roles. Better Management transparency on strategy and decisions.

Pros

- Open culture
- Access to mangement
- Ability to control direction of your career
- If you have the initiative and knowledge you can make a real change
- Hard work does eventually pay off
- Tuition reimbursement (although it has now been scaled back)
 - Location, for me at least.

Cons

- Takes time to make decent $
- There are some slackers
- Processing work is just not fun.

Advice to Senior Management

Give middle management flexibilty with bonuses. Not just 5 to 10% but real flexibilty.

Pros

People are smart and helpful
Some of the technology is good for the resume
You can really get some cool assignments if you ask for them

Cons

Some of the people are rude and their bad behavior is often tolerated
Too often poor Proj Planning leasds to death marches

Advice to Senior Management

Get independent oversight and reviews of all departments
The company throws away money because Al West trusts (too much) people that have performed well in the past but have exceeded the level of their competency today

Pros

-Relaxed environment
-Good place to get your feet wet in the financial services industry
-Management is approachable
-Decent cafeteria
-Looks good on resume

Cons

-Below average pay for industry
-Limited opportunities for advancement
-Disorganized team structures
-Poor communication from senior management
-No cubicles - some may see this as a pro, but I think the open environment can sometimes make it difficult to focus, and also gives you no privacy whatsoever

Advice to Senior Management

More opportunities are needed for promotions, particularly for those who do not want to go down the management path. Employee morale is poor, particularly in the past year or two, and many are leaving because there are not enough opportunities to advance. Many are also being overworked and not compensated for their time.

Pros

Great exposure to multiple areas within the financial industry.
Vibrant workforce with a desire to win.

Cons

Sales culture drives the business.
Change is sometimes done for the sake of change.

Advice to Senior Management

Mgt. seems to get enough decisions "right", they don't need my comments...

Pros

Open environment, young staff, good for entry level

Cons

Lack of opportunity, little communication from management

Advice to Senior Management

There are very few career paths for those 4-8 years into their career as most of the growth in the business has already occurred.

Pros

Great place, good technology, leader in their league

Cons

consultant politics is a great hindrance to growth

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

Open environment, flexibility in job responsibilities, friendly and family oriented. See something you like, you often can pick it up and run with it. Wonderful support of philanthropic activities and environmental improvements. Many examples of caring for employees with onsite access to child care, dry cleaning, cafeteria, car repair and cleaning, fitness center and classes, etc. Leadership cares about the employees and it shows in many of the day to day decisions.

Cons

Performance largely unmeasured and goals rarely exist. Passive aggressive behavior tolerated and even encouraged by some of Senior Mgt. Informal caste system determines if your role is important (sales) or not, and excellent performance will not make a difference in your career or be appreciated if you are in the wrong function. It's like being a child with a parent who is rarely around, but when he/she is, they favor the kid with the cool idea and ignore the rest who are doing all the work.

Advice to Senior Management

The old boys management style, in-fighting and favoritism is hurting the company's health and long term viability. The leaders need to make the hard decisions and focus on what's best for the entire company and not just their own personal wealth. Choose to be the leader this company needs or get out of the way.

Pros

Workplace atmosphere is open and relaxed, with no cubicles. The workforce is young, with a lot of recent graduates, however, this can also be a big negative. Good place to gain experience with a corporate environment. Get what you can in 2-3 years and leave.

Cons

With the young staff, you encounter unprofessional behavior at times. The relaxed atmosphere makes it real easy to slack off and get by. Most of the entry-level positions have too much data entry to be considered true analyst roles. Promotions are mostly based off who you know and not how much work you put in. Pay is below industry average and raises/bonuses are hard to come by. Morale is low and attitudes are toxic. Most people are trying to leave. There are no incentives to working hard and trying to advance within the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Need stronger middle management and supervisor level candidates. If you're going to hire lots of young employees, you need better everyday leaders. HR seems to be in denial about the high turn-over problem and employee satisfaction.

Pros

-High level of flexibility to manage your work/life balance
-Very non-traditional financial services culture
-Relatively "young" company, in terms of employees, so fairly open to new ways of doing things

Cons

-Company is undergoing serious growing pains and still doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up
-Leadership talent is not equally distributed across the company
-Total compensation is below industry average

Advice to Senior Management

You need to listen and trust your people more...you hired them for a reason.