State Street Reviews in Boston, MA Area

Pros

friendly environment, relaxed atmosphere, nice offices

Cons

poor pay, meaningless work, do not feel valued

Advice to Senior Management

take time to teach FA's the bigger picture

Pros

- good benefits
- good treatment by management
- nice and friendly co-workers

Cons

- hiring freezes limit opportunities within the company
- promotion and pay increase freezes
- bad communication about decent opportunities in other areas
- bad internal politics, resistance from support units to go above and beyond in customer service, which makes working on projects with them very unpleasant
- lack of growth in certain businesses, as directed by senior management, which is very questionable
- the work is not that interesting, as it involves a lot of repeating tasks
- use of bad and faulty technology

Advice to Senior Management

- read the reviews on this website, it will give you plenty of information on what needs to be fixed
- manage support units better so they can provide better service to the business units
- reward the good business units by allowing them to expand their business
- decrease company bureaucracy
- get input from the affected employees before implementing large projects such as the IT transformation project
- in general, don't just talk about employee career growth and opportunities, but provide them when the employees ask for them

Pros

1) High executive visibility within Enterprise Risk Management
2) Ability to understand company structure and business model
3) Friendly, competent people

Cons

1) State Street's bread and butter (investment servicing) is not very glamorous or exciting
2) Compensation is not very strong (e.g. I started my career there and had to leave the bank to get paid commensurate with my skills & experience)

Advice to Senior Management

1) Need to promote/pay top performers otherwise they will leave for greener pastures even if they like their work/colleagues
2) More focus on training/career path rather than putting all the onus on employees

Pros

Great management. The team atmosphere is very endearing, everyone gets along and easy going. Management micro-manages most new hires and helps with any solutions.

Cons

Advancement in the company is solely based on tenure and experience. Sometimes favoritism plays a role in the hiring process but most often, the longer you've been here the easier it is to move up.

Advice to Senior Management

Management should encourage more participation in work life balance programs and career advancement opportunities should be discussed within a year of hire to prove support and morale.

Pros

Flexibility. Work Life balance is great. good benefits

Cons

Too much outsourcing that is hurting morale here in Boston

Advice to Senior Management

Please keep Americans employed

Pros

As many other people have noted below;
Good Benefits (although they are trying to do away with those too)
Good Work life Balance

Cons

They pay well below market rate and even have multiple groups on very different pay scales. The people on the higher pay scales flaunt that they are making more. This happens mostly because they grow through purchases as opposed to new business wins or service enhancement.

The review system is so convoluted and confusing. It is completely framed around how you as an employee helped the company. With no thought or desire to what goals you as an employee have for yourself.

It is the definition of promotion through attrition. There is no reward for trying or working harder, just longevity.

The senior managers all 'grew up' at State Street so they have no idea what other companies are like, they make decisions based on their frame of reference which was developed by only working at this company.

Because of the issues above, they are never able to bring in outside talent for senior positions, nor does it seem that they ever even try to.

Recently they pointed to a stat that their voluntary turnover had decreased by 1% but was still 2.5% above industry average. They took this to mean that they were doing a better job of retaining employees when the fact is that the economy is awful and people just can't find anything else.

If you want a promotion be on the sales teams, because they are the only ones who get bumped regularly because management feels like it is good to have people facing the client with at least a VP title.

You will actually find out about openings in the company that you are qualified for from external recruiters because the HR team is one of the worst I have ever encountered.

Advice to Senior Management

Actually start listening to your employees, help them move and grow within your company. And by employees I do not mean the people who have been there for 25 years and intend to die there because you have taken care of them well enough. The people who are new VP's or AVP's who still care and can be there and make it better.

Pros

Consistent paycheck, decent benefits, worked from 7-3 (good hours for me)

Cons

Went from 36.25 hours a week to having to work 40 with no compensation in pay. (same pay check more hours) Management is hired by whomever is will to take the grunt work. Hint *Don't take a management position here, just keep getting raises and you'll make just as much as them. They hire young kids that could care less about their jobs. Management give perks and special treatment to some employees and not to others. Most jobs are being sent to India so work load is consistently being changed and becoming very mundane which also leave little room for advancement.

Pros

- Large recognizable company
- Decent place to launch a career for the first couple years
- Plenty of entry-level opportunities available

Cons

- Among the lowest paying financial services firms in Boston
- Work is not challenging or fulfilling, with lots of downtime during the day
- Amount of work for most entry-level employees is rapidly decreasing due to a huge push for automation of procedures
- Promotions are mostly based on seniority; your effort and enthusiasm toward the job does not count for much
- Employees are constantly being shuffled around (my desk was moved multiple times in 2011)
- Senior management is condescending; seems like most department-wide communication from them is either a lecture or a threat that something better get done
- Management also provides no incentives for employees to go above and beyond
- Mandatory that you pay money to wear jeans/dress casually on Friday, as much as $5
- Difficult to advance your career once at the Associate 2 level, even by moving to another part of the company

Advice to Senior Management

The atmosphere here is awful, the pay is low and it seems like mostly everyone in the department hates their job. First improvement would be to pay your workers more. Don't call meetings seeking advice on how to retain "top talent" when everyone knows that turnover is high due to low pay and poor treatment/recognition. Stop charging money to dress casually on Friday - most companies allow their employees to do it for free, it hurts the culture, and the ends also don't justify the means given that pay is well below average for Boston.

Pros

Pretty good work life balance.

Cons

Not much opportunity for career or compensation growth.

Pros

-Benefits
-Good place as an Officer to compare your past performance and responsibility and to gauge your ability to continue in mentoring new comers.

Cons

This relates only to the Investors Bank and Trust division, acquired by STT 2007:
- Non-existant leadership
- No focus on the work, only politic practicing
- Runny, red noses everywhere
- Unmotivated staff content on wasting your time
- Locker room feel
- Focus on breaking technology to interrupt the process and, in turn, wasting your time
- Training department is straight out of a PX90 commercial
- Employee morale dampered by politicing
- Coddling by large men better suited, but afraid, of construction

Advice to Senior Management

Refresh all levels in Back Bay. Walk in any office, they know it's coming. Force them to get on with the rest of their lives.