Actions not Words - Relationship Manager TIAA Employee Review

3.0
Oct 31, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company has extremely generous benefits. The retirement plan and vacation days are virtually impossible to beat. They also pay 50% of your gym membership and depending on your manager, there is a good amount of autonomy. The pay is okay... nothing to write home about unless you have been there for more than 20 years, or your boss really likes you.

Cons

A lot depends on your manager and his/her manager, which can lead to wide disparity. There are no true metrics for career advancement and salary information is especially secretive, leading to the ability to maintain said disparity. The good managers often have their hands tied and the bad ones are so busy looking for ways to look better that they take what's good out of you. It's an endless cycle. Those who desire career advancement have to hope that someone will eventually give them a chance. HR practices have enough holes to rival Swiss cheese. Advancement opportunities seem to be relegated to those from the outside and "friends" of those currently in management. Middle and upper management are out of touch with those actually in the trenches.

Explore other reviews about TIAA

5.0
Jun 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great work life balance, good benefits, decent pay, ease of running your own practice as an “advisor”, and healthy work environment

Cons

Management styles can vary and affect your experience, upper management doesn’t seem to be well equipped to ensure the organization’s success but it is resilient nonetheless.

2.0
Jul 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work-life balance & nothing else.

Cons

Don’t make the same mistake I made…there’s a reason why this company’s job listings barely get any traction or applicants, even in the NY markets. Operations is a joke, and has been subpar for 10+ years. The lack of efficiency across all divisions is scary. The VSP (voluntary separation severance packages) that happened in 2021-2022 made things even worse. Because so many employees took the VSP, most roles were either backfilled with non-qualified or inexperienced people or not filled at all…like ever. Especially in Wealth Management leadership roles. This created a micromanagement culture that gets in the way of productivity & slows down money movement. Opening & funding accounts almost always takes 1-2 months here where at JP Morgan & other firms it takes less than 3-4 days. Back office & services associates constantly make mistakes, which impact the client experience and constantly jeopardizes your reputation. Turnover is scary high in operational & support roles, it is very typically for 1 or a very few operational associates to handle requests for an entire region. Constant turnover in the portfolio manager roles & advisor roles are directly related to all of the above. The company’s growth has been stagnant for years. Now that Trump defunded the education department, universities are laying people off because of lack of government funding…which will affect the company’s bottom line faster than they expect. You’ll strangely get the feeling that no one here ever knows what they’re truly doing.

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