Columbia Threadneedle Investments reviews

Unfortunately, Columbia Threadneedle’s culture seems stuck in the past. No real commitment to DEI other than making everyone watch a few videos, while at the same time the company is even more White male dominated than the average finance firm and there seems to be no plan to make changes. Bullying by group heads is tolerated. No career path for younger staff. Anonymous, faceless feedback is used to determine performance ratings.

The company was once a great place to work, but after the acquisition by Ameriprise it went starkly downhill. Ameriprise leadership cares only about the stock price, which they manage to on a quarterly basis. They have no strategic vision beyond ever-higher growth, but no understanding of the asset management business so no idea how to get there. They wiped out the sales leadership who built the company and brought in a group of friends from second-rate shops who pretended that if they just crack the whip ever harder that would lead to ever higher flows. All stick and no carrot. So next step is to lay off senior sales people because they're expensive. Why are they expensive? Because they are the best. Good luck making up the lost experience. Here's the best part: your success as a sales person is resented enormously. Why? Because they don't want to pay. If you outperform you will be rewarded with goals next year that are impossible to hit, so you will not get paid. That's their underlying philosophy.