Pros
The pro/con format Glassdoor forces you into is very difficult to fill out for a company like SIG. Pros It's a stable job, little drama, good location (on the north side of City Ave, so you're in Philly without paying the city tax)… The biggest pros are: • Not corporate • Not PC--not saying it's inappropriate, but there's no extra diversity training etc you have to go through. • Few meetings (this can be a bit of a con though as they probably need more meetings) • Easy to deal with Help Desk and HR who actually know you. Despite having 1000+ employees in the Bala Cynwyd office (Philadelphia), real people answer the phone and respond to your emails. • Easy to obtain high level equipment, such as monitors, upgraded hard drives, extra memory/RAM, etc • Attending workshops/conferences is encouraged. Employees get 1 per year. • Fun perks such as partys and company outings to sporting events. • Unlimited sick time--no more than 5 days off in a row and "just don’t abuse it" • Refer to "cult-like environment", but partly a pro in that fellow SIG employees are very loyal to one another. • Wellness center and on-site nurse. Fully stocked supplies, like heat packs, ibuprofen, cough drops, eye drops and first aid. Really comes in handy. • On-site gym, which is really nice. Though noting, you cannot use when the stock market is open, so people still have dumbbells and other equipment on their desk. You can use it anytime outside of market hours though. And best part…towel service and shampoo and soap provided!!! • Cleanest bathrooms ever.
Cons
Pay There is no pay transparency. The raises are "market value" raises. They can literally pay you whatever they want, unlike large companies like Comcast who have established pay scales and criteria for raises. This can work out well at times ( as I said, SIG is a tricky beast to categorize into pros/cons), but can also mean they can get away with paying very little too. Advice to potential candidate: negotiate VERY hard with SIG. Find a way to prove and establish your "market value." They will require you to report current salary if you’re already employed elsewhere. (This is illegal in Philadelphia across the street, but not here.) With that, 1. Don’t expect the normal 10-20% bump people say to expect when switching jobs. They use these “surveys” to establish “market value.” 2. If your previous pay was low, you will continue to be paid low at SIG. 3. They barely budge on negotiation, and as they know your current pay you can’t talk them up. They also won’t take recent certifications, degrees, or even years of experience into consideration. Recent college grads do appear to get more fair offers. With pay: I do know of several instances were people were able to get higher offers elsewhere while already employed at SIG. And SIG would match. Think of SIG like gambling or playing poker. Last note on negotiations—they WILL negotiate vacation time, but only if you had more at your previous employer. I had the same amount where I came from so that didn’t buy me anything. But if you had more days do ask for it in negotiation! Long Days, Lack of Flexibility SIG provides a catered lunch. Disclaimer in that the lunch was much better prior to the pandemic. They do also provide basic breakfast fare (cereal, etc) and a well stocked snack selection. Some may classify this as a pro, but I put it as a con as it's a clever way to take advantage of the employees. Employees do not get lunchbreaks. There are no fridges to store one's lunch. There are no tables or chairs or seating of any kind in the "micro cafés" or cafeterias. They use this to justify employees having 9-10 hour days. Employees are expected to be on-site during all market hours 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. The general schedule is a hybrid, three days a week on-site. In order to leave at 4, you need to come in by 7 a.m. However, most people will stay way later than necessary. It's not "Just get your work done", it's about being present, being a butt in a chair. Business ebbs and flows, and instead of getting a little bit of time back on your lighter days, you still must fill your 9-10 hours. It is acceptable to chit chat with people sitting around you, read news articles, order groceries, do online shopping, etc. But it is not acceptable to not be at or near your desk. Classist System SIG likes to tote "not having hierarchy" as a huge selling point. They try to tell you that your boss's boss doesn't have a corner office and it's flat structure. Well, for one they still have offices. And even without as much hierarchy as other places, SIG creates a two-class system: those who make us money, and those who cost us money. Or in other words, the traders vs the peons. If SIG were to have a slogan, I imagine it would read something like this: "SIG: Being Fair to the Traders Since 1987." If I had a dollar for every time I had that jammed down my throat. Things like, if you need to leave at 4 p.m. (mind you, after market hours), sneak out so the traders don't see you. ____ isn't fair to the traders. Or, "you're a cost center" repeated, over and over and over again. It was very strongly distilled into us that we did not matter. We were a checkbox, and needed to be fair to the traders because they made us money. It didn't matter that the traders receive bonuses larger than our base pay, or that the nature of the jobs was different. "We don't have titles" SIG doesn't have job titles. Well, they do and they don't…it's confusing. But what they certainly don't have is levels. There are no promotions. No working your way up from Level I to Level II or from Jr. to Sr. (This goes somewhat back to the lack of pay transparency--because no promotions, no raises associated with promotions). I knew several people who had literally had the same exact job title for 15-20 years, no team change, no promotion…nothing. A few years after I started there, HR went through Glassdoor reviews and saw that employees were complaining about lack of career growth and advancement. We were fed BS lines such as, "You'll know you've grown in your career at SIG when you are busier and busier!" In addition, although internal transfers are hyped up, they are very difficult to get as there are few available. Outdated technology (software, versions) Don't need a lot of detail here. Just to point out, SIG is not actually a technology firm like they want to advertise but rather a trading firm. Developers, analysts, etc are stuck using old software and versions and are told it's because of "security concerns." Using Windows 10 in 2019 was a big deal to them! Cult-like Environment Although I greatly appreciated the general lack of drama at SIG, there was an overall feeling that it was an elite membership club or a cult. Employees were way to happy to be there. A little too happy or grateful, like they had been rescued from something. No one would admit that the health insurance, 401k matching (they matched 4% of your 8% contribution), PTO (start out at 17 days), etc were just AVERAGE. If you brought it up, people would just shrug and be afraid to stand up for themselves or admit any issues with SIG almost like they were scared. Perks, not Benefits SIG loves to flaunt perks in the employees faces like painting their parking lot and having summer happy hours. Or going to the basketball or baseball game. Renting out the Franklin Museum for Family Night (this was really cool!). But, the point I keep coming back to, SIG's pros and cons are not exclusive of one another. Would you rather have a fun night at the Franklin Museum with your coworkers and their families, or would you rather have better health insurance? On the same topic, the sweepstakes. SIG loves to randomly chose a horse for you for the Kentucky Derby and give you $50 if your horse won. Or the big one…the 2023 Superbowl. SIG decided they would pick 50 people at random and send those employees plus their spouses to the Superbowl on a single day trip on a private charter flight. Sure sounds fun right? Here's how it went. Every day for a week or two, you had to open your email to see if you were still on the list. You didn't buy into it. It wasn't a raffle. It wasn't top performers. They just toyed with the employees. Then they finally announced the winners, and some of them didn't even want to go. Fine. If you think this is fun, go for it. Personally, I would've preferred higher pay to a small chance to go see to the Superbowl. All in all, it was difficult for me to write this review. I left SIG because of many of the reasons mentioned here, but I also enjoyed my time there. Right after I left, I would've written SIG a much more positive review. However, the longer I spend working elsewhere, the more I realize how much SIG took advantage of me. I had way too much responsibility and independence and too high of work level for the pay (and title!) that I had. My work days were ridiculously long for no reason other than appearances. I don't discourage anyone from starting on at SIG, but want others to be fully informed of the strange nature of this company. And remember… Always be fair to the traders!
