Welcome to Office Space
Pros
Good 401k program. Company match and fund selection are good. Health benefits are declining year after year, but are still decent if you don't have a lot of health problems. Good amount of time off. Two weeks of vacation to start. Another after three years of service and then another week after 10 years. Educational resources are good. Tuition assistance with a one-year vesting period. The company also offers a wealth of online classes and training material to learn about various lines of business.
Cons
First and foremost - The salaries are not competitive and annual raises are a joke, even for top performers. Our main competitors (SEI, State Street, Northern Trust, JP Morgan) manage to provide similar returns for their shareholders while paying their employees more. Three former colleagues of mine left for competitors and each received significantly more (20-50%) salary-wise. Promotions are hard to come by and usually given to managers' personal favorites. Internal mobility and career advancement are supposedly improving, but over the past several years only 30% of job openings have been filled with internal candidates. The raises that come with promotions/moves are not commensurate at all. There is a lack of praise for outperformers and discipline for underachievers. Hard workers are usually 'rewarded' with more work to make up for the slackers. Bland atmosphere and everyday is almost exactly the same as the one before. Layoffs are not uncommon, with jobs frequently being moved to India. There is a lack of direction from senior management, although I'll admit that it seems to be improving. Senior management heralds 'employee engagement' efforts, but selectively acknowledge feedback, usually only addressing issues that won't cost much to fix. And this leads to my final 'Con'... There is a huge disconnect between senior management and everyone else. The current CEO, Gerald Hassell, has been on a cost-cutting rampage since taking over the helm. For the past five years or so, employees have been asked to do more with less (work harder for less money). At first, it seemed necessary due to the economic climate. However, the company is no longer struggling and employees are fed up. Employees, including lower level managers and some VPs, have become increasingly open about their distaste for senior management's decisions regarding employee compensation. Mangers and VPs have publicly (via online employee forums and other means) been outspoken in their pleads for more resources to compensate staff, but those requests consistently fall on deaf ears, as senior management dodges and/or denies reality.
