Vanguard Employee Reviews about "call center environment"

Pros

Benefits, great culture, good health care

Cons

Call center environment, low pay

Pros

-relatively lax working environment (expect no business casual) -galley (cafeteria) and gym on campus -unique feel to company -decent benefits and people

Cons

-company tries to glorify a call center customer service job -must pass series 7 & 63 exams which is a lot to handle mostly tech calls -immature college graduates who are very 'cliquey' if you are not one -upward pay and promotion is limited, everyone starts at 40k regardless of experience -high turnover rate b/c of low pay, repetition of call center environment -metrics are unrealistic (no commissions for brokerage transactions and asset movement since this is apart of your metrics) -cheap systems that often break (hence so many tech calls) and colleagues in other departments who are reluctant to take transfer calls -managers are very young with little experience, more 'leaders' than 'experts' on their job

Pros

- They get you licensed with series 7 and 63 and have a pretty good program to do it -Benefits package is decent, but you’re not vested till after SIX years (sometbing you likely won’t be around for)

Cons

- First of all, this is the absolute WORST environment for a young and hungry college grad. The recruiters sold me on a client focused job where you’d have your own book of business and would be helping clients with their investments. This cannot be further from the truth. What this and most of the roles in the Scottsdale location are, is just a glorified call center. You’ll be chained to your desk where every second of your life is micromanaged down to the second (you even have to budget your 30 mins of break to go to the bathroom) and you’ll be taking anywhere from 40-60 calls a day. 99.9% of these calls have absolutely nothing to do with investments or the knowledge you gained in the 7 and 63, but rather require you to walk people through using the website or telling disgruntled clients that they’ll have to fill out yet another form. -The compensation is atrocious compared to the industry and when you take into account the work that you end up having to do. Even when moving up, at Vangaurd you’ll always be severely underpaid. -Speaking of moving up, recruiters and managers alike will sell the idea of development plana and internships, but you’ll be surprised to find that those either have been dismantled or just mysteriously don’t ever post. The full year time in job requirement creates an environment where high performers who want to succeed eventually have the life and drive drained out of them by the absolutely demoralizing call center environment. Turnover is MASSIVE. Several people had quit around me because the job is so awful. 6-12 months being the average tenure for this role is a BAD SIGN take it as a warning -During the recruitment process you’ll be promised regular meetings with your supervisor to discuss career pathing, best practices etc. But what this ends up being is your TL listening to two of your calls and then berating you for not developing a best friendship with the client during your 2 min tech support convo. I have had maybe 1 actual one on one meeting with my TL to discuss things that are important to me and that was months ago. Not to mention my TL as well as the ones around me were rarely if ever available for help, and when they weren’t in some meeting they would be gathered around a desk or in the HUB laughing loudly and feeling great about themselves, while we were busy handling call after call after call. -They offer a generous 3 weeks of vacation with the option to buy an additional week, but good luck ever getting to use it. PTO requests rarely if ever get approved and if you want to use it around a holiday? Good luck they let about 10 people total take the PTO and it’s a “lottery” system. Take a day that isn’t scheduled because you’re sick? You’ll get an occurance. -Their claim to fame is not being like the “other guys” and offering low expenses to clients and no commission so you aren’t selling clients on things they don’t need. The “other guys” are catching up in terms of expenses and guess what? You’re still instructed to sell clients on things like advice services, but the big thing is you get absolutely nothing for it. Vangaurd is just as deceptive and driven by profit as the “other guys.” -Low performers can skate by here as long as they “drink the kool-aid” and get buddy buddy with their TL and others. There is absolutely no motivation to work hard because guess what? The guy across from you who is rude to clients and hardly does anything? You two get treated the EXACT same way. You’ve provided 5 PAS leads? That’s fine you’ll still be micromanaged and treated the same as the guy who hasn’t gotten any. -The claim proudly a strong work life balance and a 37.5 hour work week, but what they don’t tell you is that doesn’t factor in your hour unpaid lunch and that they will take away that lunch at any point if they think they need the people. You also have to be logged into your computer BEFORE your shift starts to not be considered late to jump on the phones. THIS IS ILLEGAL, companies have been sued multiple times over for practices like this. -They make everyone new work 11:30-8p/10:30-7p. This is something I wasn’t told until after I had excepted my offer. -The most important thing to note is that anyone who is driven and wants to be successful should STAY AWAY. This place is a toxic wasteland that’ll suck out any resemblance of ambition that you have. The work is absolutely draining and soul crushing. This is not a finance job, it’s tech support. If anything, get licensed and leave. Go somewhere that’ll pay you what you’re worth and reward high performers.

Pros

Easy job with low to 0 stress. Plenty of opportunity to make yourself known and develop tools and software are easy to use and pick up

Cons

Typical shift is 9:30-6pm Cube Farm Call Center environment, with little time off the phone

Pros

401k, pay for liscensing, management seemed to make an attempt to maintain a positive atmosphere but is difficult in call center environment

Cons

Lack of opportunities in Charlotte, pay, call center, politics

Pros

Comprehensive and paid training program. Paid FINRA Series Exams. Opportunities for promotion. Great benefits.

Cons

Stressful call center type of work environment. Very strict and regulated break times and lunches.

Pros

Good benefits (401k and matching, insurance, etc)

Cons

Work/life balance, primarily call center environment with limited flexibility

Pros

great benefits, great company culture, flexible schedule, they care about your growth, invaluable knowledge, great people

Cons

call center environment, Lots of information to learn in a little amount of time, not the best pay

Pros

Great company, culture, and benefits. No emailing (i.e., you literally don’t have to worry about work piling up in your email when you go on vacation) in call center role.

Cons

Low entry level salary, call center environment

Pros

Decent benefits, easy work, and good starter job.

Cons

Low pay, boring work, call center environment, tied to your desk and every minute is tracked .