State Street Reviews

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

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

good pay, international exposure, challenge, opportunities to advance are available, other factors include decent benefits and some work flexibility options depending on area in which you work

Cons

laid back attitude in some areas & this leads to teams that are not up to par - reorganizations often based on political motivators and not quality of worker

Advice to Senior Management

take a look at overall competency of departments - in some cases could replace a number of unproductive workers with one or two excellent ones

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

-entry level positions that will help you get into the financial services industry
-large company with a name known in the industry
-established company with a long history

Cons

-limited opportunities for vertical growth
-low pay comparative to industry
-lack of career development track
-susceptible to outsourcing work
-highly bureaucratic and inefficient processes
-high turnover

Advice to Senior Management

Provide a vision and an advancement track for the employees so they feel that they have a future in the company.

Pros

Benefits are awesome, people are pretty laid back.

Cons

The "laidbackness" of the workers sometimes leads to sloppyness... I;ve seen it all while working there, noone is asking for fancy outfits but please pretend you care about your appearance sometimes..
I thought starting salary was pretty bad when I started, but now it's even lower, what a shame!

Pros

- good benefits
- easy-going environment
- good volunteer opportunities
- insanely easy job

Cons

- very little advancement possibilities
- communication between upper and lower associates seems non-existent at times
- below market pay
- low morale
- cap at 10% pay increase when moving between departments

Advice to Senior Management

Encourage training courses to help associates move up in company and stop using "references" as leverage.
There seems to be a lot of conflict at times between employees and management and it can get pretty tiresome.

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

Very friendly colleagues, and very amicable.
Opportunities to rotate within the company.
Very convenient hours, typical 9-5.
Very easy learning curve and once you understand the work it's a walk in the park.
A job is a job!

Cons

Very low compensation compared to a similar role at other firms, extremely low bonus.
Back office work, and transition to front office can be somewhat difficult.
Not a lot to learn here after you've learned how to work here.
Extremely repetitive work, can be mind numbing sometimes.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide mentorship and guidance to those pursuing a professional designation e.g. CFA, FRM, etc. and connecting them with relevant professionals in SSgA, SS Investment Analytics, etc.

Pros

I feel that management does a good job rewarding hard work

Cons

Difficult to maintain a good work/life balance