Pros
Employee Benefits package was excellent, due to a hugh insured base. Great medical plan, RX plan, dental, etc. Unless you had a "real" job in the company, being a phone monkey in the call center was about the easiest job ever. Required you to be licensed to trade, but not to think. As long as you had the phone stats and quality assurance numbers, you were golden. Most people could "game" the system and get the numbers, read from a call script, and transfer calls instead of directly helping the customers. The best benefit that Charles Schwab had was a generous tuition reimbursement program. I was a call-center broker and was able to get numerous IT certifications on the company's dime, which I later used to land a dream job making a lot more money and happiness. Charles Schwab can be a great stepping stone for a better job if you play your cards right.
Cons
Management lacks basic skills to manage. Employees are treated like a valuless commodity. Excessive layoffs have caused the weakest of management to "nest" and make it difficult for truly skilled employees to ascend the ranks. Management became populated with "yes" people who could quickly change loyalties to the new "senior leadership" without any regard for self-respect or sense of decency to the employees underneath. Middle management would target potential competition by "managing out" the employees who exhibited ambition, skills, and aptitude. If you just want a paycheck and don't mind being treated like cattle, then Charles Schwab is the place for you. Stay low, play the game, get your numbers, and make your manager look good and you will be rewarded with a salary, mediocre bonus, and maybe a little bit of job security...that is until they have weeded out the higher paid, veteran employees who have been in the game a little longer than you. Oh, and don't even think about changing areas in the company. There is a caste system, and if you come from a call center, then you are an "untouchable", no matter how smart or good you are.