The Vanguard Group Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

Job security - no layoffs ever. Great 401(k) match.

Cons

Senior management is very arrogant - has no interest in hearing the ideas of those in the lower ranks (even though most have great ideas!) Terrible morale. Follows the rules only when it's convenient for them.

Advice to Senior Management

If you make a rule that employees have to follow, HR and senior management should follow it too.

Pros

Great values, good retirement plan and benefits package

Cons

Chained to a desk, people pretend to care...Very depressing place to work. A lot of lifers and people who are just coasting. If you try to move up they will not let you. Team Leaders and supervisors mostly bitter people. Leading employer of Chester County for a reason!

Advice to Senior Management

Of all the people reading this, Management would care the least.

Pros

10% of Salary to 401k, 4% more matching on the 401k. Pretty flexible with schedules.

Cons

There are definitely promotion 'quotas' that must be filled regarding minorties and women. We had a very bright guy leave the company because he wasn't promoted. Mgmt was baffled and kept saying if he could have just waited 6 more months. A manager actually admitted that everyone up to his principal was 100% behind him being promoted, but when it whent to corporate, they had to promote a certain % of minorities and women first and he fell below the line.

Training is often lacking.

Perception is far more important than reality.

Bonus structure was radically changed drastically reducing from mid-level mngmt down. However, upper level bonus structure remained.

Raises do not, in most cases, keep up with inflation.

Advice to Senior Management

Be honest with the employees. They are not ignorant children and someone always has the inside information that you are trying to keep from them (partnership/dress code, Brennan leaving, Buckley)

Pros

Great training and early career development opportunities.

Cons

Once you develop a strong skill set you realize you are grossly underpaid and leave. (at least on the investment management side)

Advice to Senior Management

Embrace more price discrimination for various roles. Not all roles are created equal.

Pros

Vanguard jobs a very secure, you don't have to worry about being laid off. Crew are given many opportunities and direct coaching before possible action. The benefits are great, especially retirement. Career development is great especially for college graduates. There are many great job at the entry level and early career that enable crew especially those in PA to move around and gain different types of experiences.

Cons

Tenure is VERY long here and well respected, this means that advancement beyond early career (10+ years) can be very slow. You will be paid for your work but you will not get rich here. Consensus decision making at all levels makes decisions slow and it can be frustrating trying to please all stakeholders when trying to implement change.

Advice to Senior Management

Take more risks and get out of your offices and get to know the rest of your crew

Pros

Good for one year to get training but no growth.

Cons

Too much dependencies in other group to complete your work(5 mins work take 3 to 4 days by other group, frustrating to sit idle for 3 days), too much processes and waste of time, no work from home policy, no laptops, expected to be in office during snow or take PTO. Lots of politics, people sitting for many years won't let you move up. Very low salary compared to other financial firm. If you love to learn and get exposure, this is not the company for you. Lots of shows , presentation and meetings and time waste...

Pros

There's no other company with the ethics of Vanguard and we know who we are and what we stand for. This has held true since Vanguard was created. It's the most conflict-of-interest free company there is and they care about their clients and their employees.

Cons

Could be more flexible and offer more employee mobile technology. For example, there aren't options to job share and parttime isn't fully embraced.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer more mobile technology and alternative flexible schedules such as parttime options, job sharing, sabatticals and flexible schedules. May be even work from home.

Pros

Ethical company--never have to work about Vanguard being on the front page of the WSJ for the wrong things
Great people work there
Investment products I genuinely believe in--I have no guilt selling our products to clients and with no commission you are never swayed to point people towards inappropriate products
Generous vacation and retirement benefits

Cons

Treatment
The culture is very strong and is change adverse
However, when there is change there is poor communication. Vanguard is a very deliberative organization, but then runs into deadlines and ends up making a hasty decision anyway
Limited ability for alternative work arrangements like work from home or flexible scheduling

Advice to Senior Management

Stop believing your own press about Vanguard being a Best Place to Work

Pros

The benefits are comparable to other companies in the area. There are some really great co-workers to be found there.

Cons

The lack of recognition and the reduction in pay in the past 3 years have created a lot of dissatisfaction among the employees. Also the prevalence of silo-type responsibilities with no real overall knowledge is becoming the standard way of doing business now. The rotation of management leads to an attitude of short-term solutions with no thought as to future repercussions since the manager knows they will have rotated by that time and it will be someone else's problem.

Advice to Senior Management

Start listening to what upsets the employees and quit trying to make everyone think things are great by making dashboards appear green where they shouldn't be and thinking that the employees are so happy to have a job that they won't notice how badly they are being treated.

Pros

- No More Business Professional Dress Code!!
- Opportunities for advancement (Depending on where you start)
- Team Oriented
- Excellent Work/Life Balance

Cons

- Starting with the phones makes it difficult to move forward (or want to stay on)
- Seasonal peaks of high volume

- A con used to be the dress code until yesteday!!

Advice to Senior Management

Continue listening to your employees!