Dimensional Fund Advisors reviews

No structure for mid or end of year reviews. Despite being promoted, there is no logic to promotions. There is no start of year objective setting. General lack of caring about your career/career path and skill development. Completely manager dependent and I have had both types. Senior management play favorites. Some people are “in” the club and some aren't. Nepotism is also present, either in the form of UChicago/Booth, or family/friends giving people a leg up 401(k) match is below average at just 4%, especially when Vanguard, American Funds, TRowe are offering 3x as much. Our long-term incentive program is not good now. A few years ago it was better. Middle management is poor. They/We aren’t trained on how to manage properly and most of us have no experience at an outside firm. Generally middle management is only concerned about their own careers, not about the teams that they manage CEO’s have missed the boat on many things, but the consistent party line from senior management is that we are “being thoughtful”. Firm is experiencing growing pains despite being 40 years old. Firm/management is resistant to change.

highly educated people with many years of experience get micromanaged which results in fear of making any decisions at all; high turnover in many departments; least cheerful work environment I've ever been exposed to; no flextime for most employees; no business casual dress or jeans Fridays; leadership by fear in the legal department; work environment will not change unless the top managers are willing to address the cause of the retention problems in various departments, i.e. the inability to manage people well and effectively