Pros
+ Schwab’s stock price (YTD) has fallen only slightly more than the employee satisfaction & workplace + Incredible “Career Building Opportunities”, or CBOs as leadership calls it, where you get to shadow another department within Schwab for a long stint, helping you grow the scope of your role, develop new skills, & support other departments all while being paid the same amount each paycheck that you were making before… as both your old Team Manager AND the Client Stats/Metrics needed to be put you up for a pay raise… sorry, “Career Progression”, are no longer part of your day-to-day workload… but hey, “off the phone time” + New updated PTO Scheduling process now has more blackout dates & exclusions than an airline flight voucher …no seriously, your direct manager has as much control over approving your schedule/pto weeks in advance as Spirit Airlines has when trying to rebook your canceled flight on the next Delta/United Airlines departure + Expensive tech investments in recording employee’s phone/screen devices now free up managers to spend a majority of their day…well, umm…I assume preparing for their 20min Team Daily Huddle? Hold on, let me ask them in the Microsoft Team’s chat and see if I get a response + Leadership giving all employees FREE hand sanitizer/wipes to help ease employee’s true worries and frustration about the random strict “Return-to-Office” policy that will replace the flexible hybrid-work schedule… that had originally replaced the COVID WFH policy over 1-2 years ago… + Time for study & obtaining FINRA Series 7/63 Licensing is provided by the firm which allow you the opportunity to now place trades for clients over the phone like a 1990’s stock broker from the movies selling pink sheets… as long as it is not OTC Expert Market + Corporate Amenities like FREE parking at the corporate office, and some locations even have snacks you can purchase via the vending machines provided by 3rd party vendors
Cons
- You HAVE to be off the phones for (2x) two 15min breaks over the course of the entire 8-10 hours that make up your work schedule due to some federal worker protection rights… or something, but hey, you ARE encouraged to use that THAT time for yourself… to get up and use the bathroom, or get some water… just be careful a client call doesn’t take you into that randomly assigned 15min scheduled break, otherwise you will be hurting your metrics as you are no longer adhering to your schedule. - The fat checks your friends assume you make from commissions on trades as a Stock Trader will be 100% less than ANY fast food employee taking a burger order at a counter that happens to set out a Tip Jar… since the “$25 Broker Assisted Fee” clients have to pay PER TRADE for using your services is NOT ACTUALLY paid to YOU (the Broker that had, well, done the assisting). …instead, you nervously navigate a never ending call volume full of a complex game of avoiding the minefield of Trade/Market Risk, Firm Risk, or Regulatory Risk that at best you never hear from the client again, or worse, end up in a client filing a trade dispute later on that can lead to a “Trade Error” that is attached to your professional license like a FINRA “scarlet letter” looming over your career here and at any other competitor.