Northwestern Mutual Reviews
70% would recommend to a friend
(6770 total reviews)
John E. Schlifske
89% approve of CEO
Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "Great training and you will learn more about personal finances than you will anywhere else." (in 530 reviews)
- "The office that I work in has a great culture and we have become like a big family." (in 474 reviews)
- "Great training program they taught you a lot about the business and how it worked." (in 195 reviews)
- "Financial Representative and Advisor positions start at a commission only role just have proper preparation beforehand." (in 467 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of Northwestern Mutual and is not affected by filters.
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Found 6,770 of over 11K reviews
Updated Dec 6, 2023
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- 5.0Dec 6, 2023Financial AdvisorCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearTampa, FL
Pros
Uncapped Commissions, flexible on hours,
Cons
No base salary, must wear many different hats
- 2.0Nov 30, 2023Financial RepresentativeFormer Employee, less than 1 year
Pros
If you're able to sell insurance and consistently find new people to sell to you'll love the work and you'll be rewarded handsomely with great pay and a very flexible schedule.
Cons
This position is touted as you becoming a financial advisor as you are being on-boarded. Throughout the interview process they show you how you'll be helping people and that they approach financial planning in a well-rounded way. Once you get to training it's very clear how sales oriented and life insurance focused the whole thing is. Not to mention the whole "give us 200 names of your closest friends and family" ordeal so that you can sell to the ones you love first. My MD once told me he had 500-600 clients and that was the ideal goal for a rep. I don't know how someone manages 5-600 people as a "financial advisor" without losing people along the way. The true answer is that even when you are a quote unquote financial advisor for this company you're still just slinging insurance. If you really want to be a financial advisor and do good work that actually helps the majority of people, find another place to work.
2 - 2.0Dec 1, 2023Core Client ServicesFormer Employee, more than 1 yearMilwaukee, WI
Pros
Training is extensive and helpful
Cons
They DON'T Tell you all that the job intells when you get hired. You sign up for a customer service job and end up doing all but becoming a broker! Managers and coaches are HORRIBLE! They look over your shoulder every minute of the day making working a PAIN! You get penalized for EVERYTHING and the culture is NICE NASTY! You dont get paid enough for all the work you do. This job should start at 28.00 per hour just for all that has to be understood and done on a daily basis! IF you have another job opening, TAKE THAT and leave rhis one!
1 - 3.0Nov 8, 2023Senior Software EngineerCurrent Employee, more than 5 yearsNew York, NY
Pros
Modern Tech Stack, standard benefits(19 days PTO, health insurance, no perks) Use this company as a stepping stone to pursue something better.
Cons
- Poor Management: Eng Managers,Product Managers, Quality Assurance (probably the most inept group of people in the company). Nobody has the technical aptitude to have a high level conversation. This is bound to happen if managers who have no engineering experience are promoted to managers. - Politics: They don't care about client's privacy. Never seen so many teams non-compliant to Engineering best practices. The organization prioritizes delivering products over customer security. - Senior Leadership: Unprepared folks at the top level that have no clue and like to live in their happy bubble. There was a large meeting in which all the lower level employees embarrassed the senior leadership and exposed them for lying. - Engineering: It is not a priority for the company. Pay is not competitive because the revenue generated are from the Financial Reps efforts so the rewards mostly go to them. - Compensation: They need to understand they have to compete in the NYC market. Just because they are the king of Milwaukee doesn't mean NYC staff should be treated the same way. They are nobody in NY.
3 - 5.0Oct 19, 2023Director of SelectionCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearSan Diego, CA
Pros
- Personal Development Resources - Leadership Opportunities - Training Resources - Supportive and Collaborative Teams- locally and Nationally - Mentorship with Subject Matter Experts - Public Appreciation - Rewards Trips for Outstanding Work I've worked for several large name brand corporations with the tenure to prove it and not a single one of them provide the level of resources or personal development that Northwestern Mutual does. I'm proud to work for a company and location that is hyper focused on having a thorough interview and onboarding process as well as coaching for the duration of the career. It's a shame when I see reviews from people who do not want to put in the effort to succeed then trash a company that gives a very clear interpretation of the role right in the interview process.
Cons
The Financial Representative/Advisor role is not one that is easy by any means. We never advertise it as easy. Reviews claiming "they had me do this or that" are all based on the work ethic and determination that an individual has in themselves to succeed as a BUSINESS OWNER. It's not easy owning your business, but when you have the resources of a Fortune 100 company, it's on the individual to take the initiative and learn just as much as they want from the opportunity. At the end of the day, a person taking on the role needs to be intentional about the outcomes they want. They also need to have the maturity to make sure this is financially feasible for them.
3 - 2.0Dec 4, 2023Financial RepresentativeCurrent EmployeeGermantown, WI
Pros
Good sales training and business understanding
Cons
All they care about is selling insurance to your immediate family and friends. They paint a great picture “you’re a financial planner and you own your own business! Unlimited income!” But you’re actually just selling life insurance. They do a good job of tricking you to believe “its not just insurance, we do investments too!” But all they talk about is how many lives and new clients did you get this week? “A Life” is selling an insurance policy, a “new client” has to involve selling an insurance policy. It’s kind of a cult feeling the way they manipulate you to believe it’s more than just insurance, but then that’s all leadership cares about and asks you about
- 2.0Oct 30, 2023Senior Project ManagerFormer Employee, more than 1 yearMilwaukee, WI
Pros
the people - until layoff's / voluntary terms; very intelligent colleagues who you can learn a lot from the flexibility - they are a very family friendly organization benefits - decent, although becoming more average
Cons
leadership - It's possible to be publicly ridiculed in a meeting, I witnessed it several times to various individuals. Lack of compassion and empathy from leadership. Pace - very fast paced - be ready to pivot in a moments notice (not always a bad thing but can cause undue stress and anxiety when coupled with leadership who have no EQ) Pay - don't pay enough for the work completed. Other orgs pay better and with less stress Instability - when I first started at this org, I thought it was a very stable company.. however, there have been multiple rounds of layoffs just this year. One recent layoff occurred after "leadership" did a town hall and said there wouldn't be any more layoffs, further eroding trust. In addition, layoffs were not conducted with compassion (leadership issue) and I heard from colleagues no one even spoke with them, their access was just gone. Terrible considering years of service some of these people provided.
2 - 5.0Oct 27, 2023Finanical AdvisorCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsHonolulu, HI
Pros
You learn how to build a business; the company gives you a roadmap to be successful. Sucess is not a straight line! There are many different career paths within the firm, Financial Advisors have 100% creative direction on how you'd want to build out your own practice and create your own client experience. You will get as much out of the career as the work you put in. If you are willing to put your head down and work hard, there is no cap on success on a personal level, professional level, or financial level.
Cons
You have to work (hard). This job involves a lot of interpersonal risk, you have to be willing to put yourself out there for the greater good of the work. You work on your own time however, in the first five years, you won't have much time. This is not a job for the lazy!
1 - 1.0Dec 6, 2023Financial RepresentativeFormer Employee, more than 5 yearsDavenport, IA
Pros
Unlimited Comission Freeish Schedule 800 useless motivation meetings a day You dont have to be smart High school drop outs can exceed! Your degree means nothing to this job
Cons
There are like 3 experts in financial planning in the entire office and you cant learn from them because they act too good for you Every day feels like a looney toons episode You are expected to call 40 people a day. that is not a joke They hire convicts They fire good employees out of the blue No systems in place
- 2.0Nov 21, 2023Client Service RepresentativeCurrent Employee, more than 1 year
Pros
Training, they do provide ample time and resources to acquire needed licenses.
Cons
Salary is terrible; while expectations and responsibilities are added, pay is not. NWM is a company that claims to support development, and when I was hired, I was promised the opportunity to transfer to another department. More than a year later, I'm stuck in the same place. I've updated my preferences, and reached out to other teams for advice, crickets. Most employees drink the Kool-Aid here,
Northwestern Mutual Reviews FAQs
Northwestern Mutual has an overall rating of 3.9 out of 5, based on over 10,738 reviews left anonymously by employees. 70% of employees would recommend working at Northwestern Mutual to a friend and 71% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -3% over the last 12 months.
70% of Northwestern Mutual employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Northwestern Mutual 3.9 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.0 for culture and values and 4.0 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Northwestern Mutual to be benefits, culture, career development and the cons to be management .
