Vanguard Reviews

Pros

The company is in really bad shape with respect to the IT infrastructure. The worst part is that there is no movement to improve the infrastructure other than some superficial ones. The IT staff is very old and dated. They are engrossed in internal politics and just enjoying the no-work-no-pressure environment.

Cons

For the data scientists, the bad IT support and aged infrastructure mean there is no data. There is no possibility to do simple data analysis using Excel, let alone data science. In addition, for the rare cases when a data scientist overcomes the hurdle and crestes a good model, the even more dated management throws it away ad they don't want to change any system, no matter how inefficient it is,, in their departments. Working at Vanguard can crush your soul if you are an enthusiastic data scientist joined it to learn and work on good data science projects. Eventually, if you spend more than 1 year here, you don't learn anything and keep up with the current trends in data science making it even harder to crack your next interviews at other better companies. If you want to save your career as a data science, do NOT join Vanguard. If you still join, well, at least I warned you before hand.

Pros

PTO, benefits, working from home due to COVID

Cons

Not sure who’s writing these awesome and great reviews, but one things for sure most likely people who aren’t on the phones. The salary that we are given is so low compared to the amount of work we put in. This job is extremely draining, this is nothing but a call center and we’re just a number to upper management. Every other day something is breaking on the website and the back end teams don’t do anything to fix it. They seem to be staring off into space and never have direct answers as to where these technology issues are coming from and keep waiting for elevations to “fix it”. You get clients calling in angry and we have to sit there and take it. I don’t think Vanguard really cares about both the clients and the employees as much as they say they do. The technology is cheap and every year they try to drive down costs by not hiring as many new crew and overworking current employees. The journey to getting an internship or a new job position is a WAR ZONE, it isn’t about your skill sets, it’s about how much *** can you kiss to get it. If you’re thinking about getting a job here, STAY AWAY, you can do so much better.

Pros

Initial Training is solid & some of the benefits are good.

Cons

The list: 1.) Comp is generally lower than industry standard. 2.) Merit holds no value at this company, play into the lunches and politics, as it holds more weight than your performance. 3.) Charlotte offers nothing but phone roles. 4.) The technology is antiquated, as the majority of software is about 10 years past it's expiration date. 5.) The processes and communication are horrible, information is very tribal in nature, and you will find multiple parties will have different answers for everything. 6.) Company puts the bottom line first, not clients or employees.

Pros

- Become excellent with communication

Cons

- Verbally abused by clients - It’s a sticky job- meaning, once you’re in, it’s really hard to promote internally to another department - the role is looked down upon by employees from other areas as “entry level,” therefore, challenging to sell your in interviews when existing employees have a preconceived idea of what the previous role was or how challenging it was - future roles discredit the grit it takes to do well in this role - not worth your time - as much as crew is preached go be a priority, it’s not. - the metrics to rate you are TERRIBLE- - you take calls back to back - doable maybe for a few months- not recommended for longer than a year

Pros

Salary, potential bonus, profit sharing and 401k make for a competitive package. Others on here voice that you make less money here than other companies but in my experience they compensate very competitively. This isn't a company in Philly so you can commute with many options of a lower cost of living and lower taxes. The work is extremely variable. Some teams seem to really struggle for interesting work while others get to blaze paths and really push developers to learn new tech. The company pushes really hard for you to stay current and educated in lots of different ways. They do really feel like a company that wants you in for the long-haul.

Cons

It seems that some positions are filled by people who have a long time in job but are clearly not cut out for the position. Responsibilities of a role aren't necessarily clear and a promotion in place may be difficult without moving around in the company.

Pros

$80 stipend for internet, laptop, up to 2 computer desktop screens, office chair, docking station, IT vanguard system specialist available, lots of OT opportunities especially during tax season, 37.5 hrs/week considered full-time, benefits (health, vision, dental, bonuses, parental, life insurance, legal plans, etc), pay 43k but with bonuses, ot and other incentives (ie $200 on top of salary with ot 1.5pay for 6+hrs of overtime per week),

Cons

Big company (of course) slow reaction, application and technology. Uses their own terms for common things can get confusing (ie. Clients=customers, crew members = VG employees, Standard Work= system guideline procedures, best practices= like previous but more of a suggestion and not tracked as following procedures or not), not so much vg specific (internet/connection issues due to complex encrypted security like VPN, high learning curve with support but higher level of support at the tail end of curve, lack of feeling like you have coworkers, lack of support with elevated(angry) clients that can be brutally intense, not user friendly software systems)

Pros

401k and pto are great

Cons

The company does not care about its clients or its crew. Its so big they dont care if they give bad service or have poor tech. The website is atrocious and vanguard requires everything be done on there. Taking initiative, adding value or presenting ideas is not valued at all. Getting a promotion is literally based on who you know and having lunch with people. Thats verbatim from multiple people giving advice - the more people you have lunch with the more likely you will move up, it has nothing to do with meritocracy. Add in the incessant fake wokeness of the CEO, constantly pandering about how much vanguard loves people of color, women, or any other group in the news that day, and being incredibly understaffed with low iq coworkers who should probably be working at a grocery store instead of a brokerage firm make for a dreadful day to day experience. Over 6 trillion in assets and they give very low pay, they hire dumb people since they simply dont have enough warm bodies to man the phones and they every single client who calls in thats been with vanguard for 10+ years says the experience has fallen off a cliff. Horribly run company thats a glorified burn out phone job