First Command Financial Services reviews about "management"

Workload can be hectic at times.

Most managers have no idea what's going on Still using old software Employee feedback is never taken into consideration Employees overworked Employees outside life doesn't matter to management Management asks Employees to work on scheduled holidays off Employees know more about what's going on then managers

I’m the beginning is tough. There is a lot to learn. You don’t have a client base built yet. And you have to really engage the community and get out there. Also, hours can be off in the beginning as you have to meet clients when they can. And sometimes that might be after they get off work after 5. After the first couple of years that goes away or calms down.

A degree gets you further than experience or knowledge, but tuition assistance is offered

-Below market pay. Raises are at levels near insulting especially given the inflation levels and the job market in 2022. -I did not feel ethically right working at a company that exploits the life situation of our country's military to push whole life insurance in the name of "financial planning". The business model as a whole felt like a step under a pyramid scheme. (google first command and see the honest reviews of what people say about this from a customer perspective) -the leadership at this company has their minds stuck in the command and control mindset. A lot of toxic behavior was observed in meetings such as threatening remarks of "get it done by my deadline or else..." -the agile transformation is hilariously bad. this company will go back to command and control in a heartbeat when they feel any form of pressure. the excuse is always "we are still growing". -Salesforce integration - if you are interviewing for a technology role, please ask them to explain their multiple failed attempts to fly in integrating the new CRM tool. No exaggeration, almost every employee in technology was forced to work day and night and all weekends for 3 weeks straight to attempt to integrate the new CRM tool with no extra incentive other than 1 free pizza. Most days would be 8am - midnight and even past. Every single day there were 2-3 leadership check ins to micro manage progress for each team and if your team was lagging progress, you were lit up by the chief info officer publicly. all of this because leadership completely failed to listen to the teams during plannings months before and gave an arbitrary deadline based on budget. This is what made myself and others quit. No sympathy for people, extreme micro management, incompetent leadership, and a failure to listen.

Nearly all of the company's marketing matetial is geared toward active duty, so it can be difficult to attract clients who are not military. The company provides a limited amount of exposure to active military community in the Tampa area, so the turnover is extremely high. The turnover also leads to existing clients being constantly reassigned to new advisors who may or may not make it past the first two years which is the critical failure period in the industy. Many clients complained that their old advisor left or that their new advisor never reached out. Lots of clients pulled their investments away from the company but because they still have insurance policies the clients stay in the database. The company markets itself as a financial advisory firm and financial planners but the number one product they require reps to sale is insurance. Yes, insurance is important, but reps who do not generate enough revenue are let go. The reason for this is that the company requires all interest in insurance commissions to be signed over to the company so trails do not belong to the insurance rep. The company keeps the trails and uses them to help fund advisor comp. The company constantly pushes advisors to meet a minimum level of new business every year to keep your seat. In this regard the company seems to value new sales revenue over maintaining and servicing clients. I saw this in the office I was in, a successful advisor with years of experience and one of most prestigious professional designations in the industry was pressured into leaving because he wasn't generating enough revenue for the company. In my 2 years with the firm atleast 12 advisors left or were not offered independent contractor positions. Corporate management seemed good, but at the regional and local levels it seems to have shifted focus. Instead of building the advisor force it seemed to be more about building their career and promoting to the next level. The company has a lot of baggage from products and services that were previously offered. I lot of clients love the firm, but there are plenty of people who were scarred by their advisor always wanting to talk about insurance and why they need more. Plenty of people would shut down and walk away once they heard what the company offers or its previous name. Having to tell people they do not fit within the company's client matrix so you can't offer them products is a bad part of the job. Having to tell people you don't charge a planning fee you offer " free" planning and are compensated when they buy from you (some advisors are allowed to charge a fee, but newer ones aren't). This is huge because there is a movement towards fee only advisors - not saying one is right or wrong.

*Behind in technology, but we know we are and are working hard to get there *AGILE environment isn't across ALL departments, so there is some disconnect *Department structure in Marketing needs some additions, i.e. need a marketing coordinator and a traffic coordinator to manage all the work in the department amongst different departments within Marketing *More engagement with management is desired (this is most likely due to the current virtual environment)

Sometimes management isn't the best