First off this isn't a negative review its just observations of my time at Vanguard.
1) Talent is over-looked : Some of the smartest people working at Vanguard are often the most over-looked. I was not nearly as great at my job as some of the people who were on my team. The difference was that management liked me, my metrics were good, and I had a great boss who always made the effort to recommend me to other departments.
2) Metrics over potential: I left the "Retail" side and moved to advice hoping that the grass would be greener and we would focus on the client relationship and quality more so than metrics. It lasted for a while but PAS was just another department that had its culture thrashed by the metric police.
3) VADP: Enough said. Some are good and some are bad. Most of them don't nearly have the life experience or knowledge base to be respected by other VG employees. Before I left it was at the point that the program had become a running joke for most employees at the expense of the new-blood right out of college.
4) Management: The underlying issue. Your life at VG depends on you quality of manager. There are amazing ones at VG that are some of the best I experienced in my working life. The ones that are toxic bring down morale and increase turn-over.
5) Crew's View's: Good idea poor execution. Another running joke at VG. The idea is that you can, in a way, "rate" Vanguard. The problem is the worse your team rates VG the more work that is created for your team. You have to develop action items to solve problems that can only be solved at higher levels. Empowering crew to make changes is a GREAT idea, but when they cant make changes to anything that matters the process has become useless.
6)AUX Codes: If you're in retail your life is a call center now. You live for trying to fool the "Conn" to simply go to the bathroom. In tax season you get a 30 min break and 30 min lunches. If the bathroom is closed on the floor you are on you just wasted precious seconds of your break trying to make sure nature doesn't call you at your desk.
