Vanguard reviews

The culture is awful. Many employees don't take responsibility to help clients because of the company metrics. I understand why a company has metrics but theirs are just unrealistic. In order to get good metrics, usually employees just rush clients and don't provide good service. As a result, when you are trying to help a client, and you need to go to a different department, it can take a long time to get others on the line to help and they usually give pushback; even if it is their department is supposed to help. I would like to provide good service, so this company wasn't for me. Many employees are sick of this atmosphere. More than half of my class I joined with has already quit for these reasons and many others.

-Oppressively overbearing 'culture'. The management tries to manufacture a "everybody is a big family here" culture by relentless mandatory team activities, potlucks, lunches. I did the Myers Briggs test 3-4 times in one year. You're trapped in a conference room while everyone is reading their results, one by one. Vanguard refuses to let you just be a good employee and mind your own business. You have to attend a mandatory team Huddle in the morning, and a SECOND one in the afternoon. Every single day, for weeks, months into perpetuity. Everyone has to volunteer and rotate to 'lead' the huddle and come up with something to say, under the watchful eye of your manager and/or the second-level manager who's within earshot. They got this idea from a consulting company they partnered with that told them franchises like Dunkin Donuts do this. You can't safely push back without a manager taking notice and plotting against you. I would've gladly forfeited 4-5 PTO days if the company just stopped trying to claw into my head. This place feels more like an alphabet agency psych experimentation place than a workplace. Less than half my original hiring class is still there in less than 2 years. People can't handle it eventually, and many times they don't even announce that they're leaving. They ghost because they want to dodge the goodbye party/farewell card clown show. -Compensation is low. Management has been very honest in explaining that increase in salary or more OT hours comes out of the clients' pocket, so this is an understandable fundamental limitation. At the same time, this is why as an employee it really does not make sense to be a 'lifer' here. An annual merit raise for an operations associate, entry level, who hits the highest performance standard metrics-wise, amounts to <2%. -Benefits package is terrible in context of the low base salary - the 401k match looks acceptable at first but you're burning money if you stay long enough to get fully vested, because you could realistically be working somewhere else at a higher salary. Vanguard is cunning in that they know mathematically you're likely to be gone in one year than remain, so they bet against you staying longer by locking up your supporting compensation. Yes the 401k vesting schedule is standard; however, you're not even eligible your first year for the partnership bonus. As a new employee I assumed this must be normal; however in my career after Vanguard, I found this is completely false. But, that's the tradeoff. If you're not from a top school or from a finance college background, Vanguard will take a chance on you with licensing and giving you the initial exposure and job experience. In return, you're not compensated much. In that context, Vanguard offers fair compensation which a lot of the other reviews do not acknowledge. -Management is a bit chummy with each other. But, working here is so overbearing already without your manager trying to be buddy-buddy with you. So I guess a blessing in disguise.