Pros
Total Rewards package is one of the best of ANY company. My immediate supervisors were ALL great people and great supervisors. Not the levels above them. PTO is amazing. I could write a whole paragraph on how good the benefits are. But benefits don't pay the bills.
Cons
Base compensation. Company prefers to offer perks and low cost health insurance instead of being an industry leader in BASE compensation. Not variable pay. Big difference. Probably #1 reason people leave. They come here to get their licenses and do some time and leave for other firms. Base pay not enough to pay rent, food, gas, etc and I'm single. Variable pay (Partnership) is just that, variable. You can't rely on that and its paid once per year. Merit increases for top performers are pitifully low. 2% merit increase? Seriously? My rent increased 66% in the same time period. I live in the East Valley. The commute up the 101 to Scottsdale is INSANE both ways. Just like LA traffic. Living in Scottsdale as a single person is not feasible. I'd need to make $25K min/yr MORE just to afford the cost of living near the Scottsdale offices. Worst thing: Time in job (TIJ) . Min 1 yr. Could be 18 months. You accept a job, you're stuck. No matter how you perform. After that you can apply to internal jobs that everyone else who has also been waiting for their TIJ to expire, all apply for the very few openings that exist. Then people are selected through politics (networking) or nepotism. Then you get stuck again for another year. Case in point and this is the dead truth...in 3 years time I applied to 27 different jobs I was qualified for. Wasn't made 1 offer. Regardless of the level or the position. Reasons? Hmmm...no idea. No feedback offered even when asked. Too many applicants, blah, blah, blah. Just HR spin as usual. Why you ask? Vanguard is a very comfortable, secure company to work for. Nobody leaves, very little attrition. They always told me that they never had a layoff in their existence. That's the myth anyway. No way to verify. So if you're comfortable being a drone in a vast company with very little meaningful advancement and stay for 15-20 years you might make middle management. Whoopee! HR is all outsourced and HRBPs are essentially non-existent to talk to. File that Salesforce case and we'll get back to ya with answers. Then its just more HR spin. If you call the hotline that's different but I never had to. All sounds harsh huh? Maybe. It's not a company for the young and ambitious, the movers and shakers, the 20 somethings with fancy Finance degrees ready to go slay the industry. Finally since I'm doing a very "bare my soul" review, investments is all tech now. For the workers and the clients. You'd think it would be world class with all of our resources right? Our tech is abysmal internally. Why? Because we don't pay the right people the right wages to make it all work. It starts at the top. I'm sure our CTO is a very nice guy but he's ineffective. If I were the CEO I'd replace him. Our phone system? Don't get me started. Call Vanguard as a customer and experience it yourself. Its worse answering the phones. 1/2 the jobs serve the customer and work phones. Here's an example of good tech: Amazon. When was the last time you ever had a problem with their website, placing an order, adding a card, or getting a delivery? Never. Well, never say never but it's seamless and invisible and everything just works. All the time. Across ALL platforms. Why? We tell our customers to do everything online now. well, we have a LONG way to go to be like Amazon. Oh I could go on, but I've said enough. And have I said these things to my superiors? Many, many times. Nothing changes. All the best to you. PS: It MUST be noted that I was NOT fired and I am not trashing Vanguard. Purely my unfiltered, professional and personal experience.