Vanguard Reviews

Cons

High volume phone center
Have to be flexible to stay late if on calls.
Must be able to adapt to new job responsibilities and changing processes

Cons

Lower wages than competition. Highly political environment

Cons

There aren't a lot of positives in this role, so time to move on to the cons.

The job - Vanguard does an extremely poor job of communicating what the actual role is going to be like. You will be slamming 40-50 calls a day. That is every day. Aside from a couple weeks after tax season, it has been calls back to back with no break. While this may initially sound doable, it quickly drains your soul. These calls can range from an elderly client trying to gain web access to being yelled at because an incorrect form was sent out by another representatives. 99% of the calls will be clerical. Like many other reviews have pointed out, if you are interested in finance or investing or the markets or pretty much anything that isn't customer service, find something else. You will not be happy here. I can guarantee you that.

Vanguard claims to care about employees but churning and burning talented, motivated college graduates through 40-50 calls a day really shows they don't care about you as an individual. If you don't like it, they'll replace you with some other poor fellow out of college who doesn't know any better than not to take this job.

The pay - The pay is sub par to say the least in Arizona. God only knows how my Vanguard brothers and sisters over on the east coast are getting by on 43k. You cannot expect to retain talent, or even keep anyone that is proficient at their job while paying this salary. For a financial services firm, the salary is an absolute joke. In a recent town hall meeting, one of the senior executives said that they were having trouble hiring in AZ. Well, I'm not exactly Einstein but I wonder why. Then they wonder why everyone who continues to work at Vanguard are mediocre, and clients aren't happy with the service they're receiving. It's because all the competent people have left for a salary that they can actually afford to feed their families on.

No opportunities to move beyond a phone role - For anyone looking to move out of this phone role, it will be an absolute dogfight. Any department that isn't on the phones will have hundreds of applicants per open role. You have a better chance of being accepted to Harvard. Vanguard doesn't care to give talent a chance to prove themselves or even better themselves. The most qualified candidates don't usually get the job. Vanguard is super heavy into networking. It's like you have two jobs. Crush phone calls all day, while somehow finding time to bother people in other departments. It's absolutely ridiculous. For the unlucky 99.9% that don't get these roles off the phones, they're happy to string you along to another crappy phone job where they can churn and burn you for more calls for a tiny raise.

Everything else is also a mess - Literally everything in the Scottsdale office is broken. The water fountain was broken for weeks. The coffee machines are broken. People get stuck in elevators. Vanguard is a 5 trillion+ company, yet people are getting stuck in elevators because we are too cheap to spend money to fix anything. Our technology is eons behind anywhere else. We're still using monitors and laptops from the early 2000s. We use software that looks like it was created in the 60s. It's an absolute mess. There's being at-cost, and then there is being plain cheap. Times are changing. Firms are moving toward being technologically focused, and not only are we behind; we're pretty much not even in the race at this point.

Cons

The pay is low for industry standard

Cons

nothing was bad everything was tq

Cons

Its a call center and you will be taking calls all the time. Or trying to find an "Initiative" to waste time doing so you do not have to answer the phone. For Personal Investors it is back to back calls. You are monitored constantly and coached to do it the vanguard way. One instructor said the role was similar to the Disney princesses that work in the parks. "No matter what Cinderella is feeling she always makes the experience special for the kids and family that visit" Yeah When I heard that I cringed a little. You'll learn though and if you make the best of it you'll be moving on to better things. Best of Luck

Cons

Red tape is everywhere; culture where participating in weekly breakfast club gets you promoted before producing good work and holding yourself accountable for your job; Credentials such as CFA MBA don't matter if you can suck up to the right people; performance review process is really vague and doesn't reward the people who actually do their jobs; not much accountability has created an environment of mediocrity; Time in job requirements hinder career development; It will take you forever to move up if you can keep your sanity for that person of time; either you give in to the culture and drink the kool aide but don't work here if you question things and have original thoughts

Cons

Being in a call center environment can be extremely stressful. You never know whether the next inbound call will be a simple transaction or a client screaming about an issue. Tough call? Doesn’t matter, your metrics are more important. It can be very difficult to move up, it’s more about who you know than your job performance. Many people get burnt out... turnover rate is extremely high. Vanguard knows this and they realize that there will always be someone else willing to take their place. Calls are back to back throughout 90% of the year. Technology is extremely slow and when something new does come out it doesn’t work properly. Compensation is lacking.

Cons

Antiquated organizational practices, disingenuous management, discriminatory labor practices (google it), outdated performance management model, toxic work environment, horrific system infrastructure, zero innovation, obsessive budget cutting. As a VGI employee, you’re nothing more than a cog in the Vanguard profit machine.

Cons

bias against experienced workers, several discrimination suits