Corporate Actions Associate 2 - If you work in the Quincy Office - Anonymous employee State Street Employee Review

2.0
Dec 21, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Nice People, everyone gets along with each other at least until it gets stressful and really busy. - Building is nice to walk around for a few laps. - Food options in the cafeteria is great; salads are delicious. - Parking lot spaces are really narrow and tricky to get into but at least there's parking compared to the downtown State Street locations in Boston. - Good place to start.

Cons

- Depending upon which team you are in, it could be fun or it could be a nightmare. - With regards to above, good luck with training as you really need to be a fast-learner in order to succeed. Training tends to be more along the lines of sitting next to the person working, watching them work while they're explaining everything to you and then you're on your own in 2-3 days. If you're starting out as an A2 there are not that many courses that you can take to prepare for the role and it does feel as if you're on your own for the first couple weeks/months. Be prepared to have everything thrown at you all at once. - I also wish I could say that training is great but it really isn't and they've supposedly revamped it within the past couple years and it just feels like it's getting worse. - Orientation was just 45 minutes unless if you're in another department then you have some sort of special 3-day training and getting to know the company. But if you're in Corporate Actions you have to report back to your desk and work. - Software that they use are not that ascetically pleasing. Also it's true what other reviewers have mentioned here, the skills are not really transferable and only applicable to State Street. - It is hard trying to become an Officer or get promoted to being an officer and usually takes a while, perhaps more than 5 years in the department. - With regards to promotion, I've heard of too many stories about biases in promotions to being a Senior Associate so be prepared to work a lot and not get any credit for it or very little recognition. - Don't expect too much from working at the Quincy, MA location. They don't give cups in the breakroom (you have to bring your own). Also includes paper plates, bowls, etc. Plastic utensils and condiments are located far on the 2nd floor cafeteria. - Convenience store takes cash only. Strange how they sell lottery scratch tickets here. - The building looks nice from the outside but don't let that deceive you. Exterior renovations were completed in 2015, interior renovations were completed around 2005-2006. It kind of gets old after a while. - If you are paid less than 40k as an Associate 2 in Corporate Actions, you are definitely being underpaid. - Many people tend to stay within the company for many years as they have either gotten too comfortable to move to other jobs or have little prospects elsewhere. Also the company does tend to pigeon-hole employees starting with three weeks vacations and great health benefits. Many managers will even promote A2s to Senior Associate positions just to keep employees in the company. If you do get promoted, I would try to leave a few months in. - Good luck spending an hour with the help desk with setting up your printer. - Understand that small mistakes and errors do cost the company money but even simply forgetting something and then asking your co-worker how to do something really small that it left your head (because you've learned so much!) can explode into a long hour-long conversation about how to essentially do your job. I guess happens at almost every workplace. - People have different ways of training, some more advanced than others, no one keeps it simple here. Personalities differ with everyone here but at least it keeps things interesting. - The time and a half overtime is great but they are cracking down on OT and some managers are very picky about the amount of hours you enter in. Also be aware that some Senior Associates do not get OT if you are in other departments. But Corporate Actions does. - Overall, it's a good place to start but I wouldn't stay there for more than a couple years. Less than that is fine. If you're expecting cool, hip things (similar to a start-up workplace) like beer cart on Thursdays, a ping pong table, gym, etc, then you're out of luck. The workspace is mostly just get-in-get-out. Everyone becomes passive after a while and I've unfortunately become that way too. Also it's business casual clothing or anything with a collar, I wouldn't try to wear sneakers as I've gotten flagged down for that before. - Bathrooms seriously need renovations. - Paper towels on the 5th floor do not usually get stocked until by around 11am to noon but on the 3rd floor, they're full stocked and ready-to-go. I feel that the maintenance workers get lazy sometimes. At a time when you need sometime the most, even a paper towel, be prepared for it to run out. - Overall, Good Luck.

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Jun 23, 2026
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Pros

Own book runner and strategy. Good work life balance. Good working environment and nice people to work together

Cons

No much growth. Promotion to VP or higher is even forbidden based on company policy. Instead, ask people to move to different role. It doesn't make a lot of sense since it encourage people to find a new job.

1.0
Jul 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

They offer resources for learning.

Cons

In my previous roles I've never felt burnout but with this one is the first I was feeling crush. I don't think managers take time to structure the tasks on a 8hrs or 10hrs per day. There are a lot of unrealistic expectations, no work-life balance at all. Even if you made the sacrifice to stay late, you will not be done with the work for the day.

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