The Vanguard Group Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

The company culture is driven toward excellence for all staff with a high level of integrity for the customers' investments. The interactive staff is forward thinking and pushes the boundaries of technology within good usability rules - constantly trying to look ahead to how customers will need to access their money as technology evolves. However, because they also have a print creative dept., the interactive dept. sometimes had to fight some significant battles to educate internally before being allowed to move forward. This process can take time and can frustrate staff - resulting in key personnel departures. This leads to a big learning curve for remaining staff and/or a large workload once projects are approved, but the original deadlines remain. That said, there was so much progress on the education of institutional leadership while I worked there. I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. The (award-winning) print designers also have a hunger for learning interactive - so there's a nice opportunity for knowledge sharing if that's something you enjoy.

Cons

Trying to educate senior staff on good information architecture, usability and interactive design process. There's still a bit of a disconnect, which make managing expectations for interactive design unreasonably compared to print design.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to educate through good architecture and usability - don't cut your conference budget. Let the staff that attend come back and educate those who didn't go. Then rotate these people so everyone is challenged and becomes experienced in teaching expertise.

Pros

Ample amount of personal time off
Reasonable Medical Benefits (changing for 2012 on)
Never take the job home with you
Training resources

Cons

Compensation is well below industry average (if your not licensed they start you at 31,500, licensed 33,000)
Every minute of the day is scheduled and monitored
Career Middle Managers don't necessarily understand procedure and often unwilling/unable to aid
Dissemination of information is poorly managed
Terrible worker morale, bordering on depression
Uneducated, occasionally hostile clientele
Lack of accountability for own work

Advice to Senior Management

The morale on the floor is very bleak. You'd be hard pressed to find an associate who actually enjoys what they do on a daily basis. Good performance in job is usually rewarded by not having to do your job, i.e, you get ad-hoc projects and coaching/training opportunities.

Time in job requirements make employees feel trapped and demotivates them. (18 months)
The size of the company is perfect if your looking to hide in your cubicle and not have to answer for your own mistakes. But for a motivated, intelligent professional Vanguard can strip you of your desire and the stringent requirements for what must be done and said and what can't be done and said will engender a feeling in yourself that you are actually incapable of more.

If you are interested in working for Vanguard and you have no other options, this might be for you, but if you aspire for more professionally look else where.

Pros

PTO ,casual dress
Decent health care,
Nice partnership payouts
Benefits start the day you do

Cons

Management not in tuned with their staff, high turnover in certain departments.Upper management needs to set the tone and in a positive way. If you want your staff to care about their work, show some appreciation .

Advice to Senior Management

When you do the crews surveys take them serious ,talk to the staff and find out how they really feel about the company. Main campus is very different then the different sites especially Devon Park.The morale is down because the goals are impossible to reach for any human.

Pros

They were alwasys on the bandwagon for the lastest book to inspire management and would give the books out for free. Offer courses on anything you want to learn to enhance your skill set.

Cons

Wants everyone to think outside the box yet fails to embrace the new ideas.
Cult like enviroment, take assimliation to a whole new level.
Managers have been "encouraged" to step down and then forced to work side by side as peers with crew they use to managed.
Careers of tenured crew can be derailed based on one bad review regardless of validity of the review.

Advice to Senior Management

Embrace diversity.
When you continuously hear that a manager is not doing a good job do not let it fall on deaf ears.
Manage to success and career growth

Pros

The benefits are SECOND TO NONE.
The Vanguard University Program is Outstanding.

Outstanding technology that would make George Jetson blush.

Cons

I'm gonna keep this short and sweet:

There have been many downsides in the past few months; a great deal of terminations which brings the question of the way we are trained.

I've seen a great deal of apathy from management, conforming to procedures that I feel, they don't even believe in.

I'm seeing the morale at it's lowest.

Management: Mostly young and are educated, brillant and have the ambition for growth; but, there is a fine line between knowledge of procedures, functions and applications v. leading people from all backgrounds, from all walks of life and it takes a special person to have, to possess that type of attribute. You have some TLs and management from mid to higher levels who really don't have that gift or they're just looking out to cover their backsides; at the expense of the associates. It's all about fear and it always happens during an economic setback.

You do have some managers who are loyal and dedicated to their associates in different types of degree and we as the crewmembers struggle to drive to work through rain, wind and snow, we stay long hours and will bend over backwards to see to it that a new shareholder or beneficary is serviced correctly; even if it takes a few hours or a few days to do so. It should never be about productivity; it's about quality, like making a Rolls Royce, built by hand. That's how a company attains The Gold Standard; but, Vanguard wont attain that, if they'll use the practices of a 1920s assembly line.

We do so much for wages and salaries that are not that much. That's why some of us have other jobs working seven days a week, total.....and it's still not enough.

Advice to Senior Management

Some of you, not all of you are apathetic, talk a good game. You'll continue to use these practices to get over; but, one day, you'll make a big mistake and it will come down on you like a ton of bricks. Think it won't happen? For the real managers. Be an original leader; not a play it safe, stand behind procedures without questioning type leader. Listen to not just your mid level managers; speak to the associates and I mean with an open ear and once you've establish the right type of rapport, you'll truly listen and maybe see some of the concerns not shared by someone who feels intimidated.

Pros

Learning opportunities and initial advancement are fantastic..

Cons

Once you are in a position you enjoy however, management insists that you change positions ever few years.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to employees more about what motivates them. Morale is/was horrible when I left. Also, salary needs to be improved for long term employees. Benefits eat into too much of the pay, and increases have not kept up with the expenses expected of employees.

Pros

The ability to buy more vacation time was nice.

Cons

The morale was terrible,management was poor. Favoritism was obvious towards upper mgt who had family members on the team.

Advice to Senior Management

The company is not the same since Mr Bogle was pushed out. The company is more like cult.

Pros

Good benefits package although that has declined every year that I have been there.
Good 401 Match... also the 10% that they contribute to your pension on top of your 401k is huge
More then ample time off.
Great employees to work with (non Managers). I met quite a few good friends there
Training is pretty good
Great name to have on a resume. On my search prospective employers liked my 5 years at Vanguard

Cons

-The pay is god awful. I left there making $48,000 as an exempt employ and left for a job making $68,000 with overtime.
-Career progression is non existent.
-Vanguard got rid of their Partnership program where nearly everyone took a pay cut and they sold it to us as if we asked for it.
-Promoting the culture is more important to advancement then doing a good job is.
-It is run much more like a kindergarten then a business. Everything for chili contests to stupid games for the united way
-the past 2 years I have worked for 3 Team Leaders all of which were younger woman who had NO EXPERIENCE in the business. Also all were hired without the staff having the opportunity to interview for them.

Advice to Senior Management

Reward production over culture promoters and cheer leaders

Pros

Great for long-term, conservative kind of professional who takes direction well.

Cons

Not the place for creatives or out-of-the-box types. Innovative and/or entrepreneurial professionals should steer clear.

Pros

Vanguard's current market position can provide a certain level of job stability; however, this may change when other types of financial institutions (banks, etc.) begin to compete in Vanguard's market (401K, etc.)

Cons

Vanguard has little or no room for career growth for newer hires; there are hundreds of long-term (10+ years) employees that are entrenched in their jobs making it difficult for newer hires to move up the career ladder.

Advice to Senior Management

Give all managers a fixed "term-limit" for being in a management role. This will allow new and fresh ideas to develop and minimize internal polictics.