Management on the "team" level is a joke. Lack of communication. Lack of follow-through. Lots of "I'll get right on that!" and never hear from your manager about it again. Lots of "If you have an escalated issue, send me an email and it's out of your hands." No. It's not. Because it never gets taken care of and that person will call back screaming. Again. And then she'll send out a passive aggressive email about YOU forgetting to do something. Genius.
If you ask four people procedural questions about how something needs to be done, you will absolutely get four different answers, and will be penalized because inevitably they are all wrong. You are held responsible for the mistakes of everyone above you. My "senior team lead" is a waste of the companies money. Half the time this person doesn't know the answers to reps' questions and will flat out refuse to take an escalated call. I regularly have to ask three and four times to request time off the phone to do miscellaneous tasks. The senior lead and the manager have next-to-no communication which regularly results in important financial or escalated items being overlooked for days. They both regularly leave their desks for long periods of time, often at the same time. Meetings happen, I get that, but when one is sitting and chatting with a rep and the other is across the floor showing off baby pictures and I'm on the phone with someone screaming that they want to speak to a manager, it is unacceptable.
The reference materials we are provided with are out of date. I have specifically mentioned multiple items that are outdated or just plain wrong, and there has been zero action to correct it by the manager or senior lead. But if you use that reference material and give wrong information, you are responsible.
The fund companies you will take calls for do not care that you are the point of contact for their shareholders. Abysmal fund performance, malfunctioning websites, I have dealt with both of these and it was like pulling teeth to get a manager or client services person to get an answer, or even talking points so we could have SOMETHING to tell people when they called in screaming about why their money is gone.
Also, be prepared to feel like a child when it comes to your schedule. I have been asked multiple times to explain why I was using "personal time" during the day; I don't owe anyone an explanation regarding why I needed to use the bathroom or make a personal phone call. If you have to schedule a doctor's appointment that's within the next three months, chances are it won't get approved. Feel sick and need to leave early? Good one! You'll have to wait around for it to be "approved." Need to take a long lunch because you have an appointment? It's a nightmare getting anyone to help you. Two feet of snow on the ground? Sometimes the company will put employees up at a hotel, and that is very generous. But this past year they did not. And there was zero understanding about why someone would not want to drive in the bad weather.
We're all busy, I get that. But when I can go until 5:00 and not realize that either the manager or senior lead hadn't been there all day, that really says something about how LITTLE they do for the reps when they are there.
The pay is okay. The benefits are okay. Management is terrible. Shareholders are terrible.
