Actions not Words - Relationship Manager TIAA Employee Review

3.0
Oct 31, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company has extremely generous benefits. The retirement plan and vacation days are virtually impossible to beat. They also pay 50% of your gym membership and depending on your manager, there is a good amount of autonomy. The pay is okay... nothing to write home about unless you have been there for more than 20 years, or your boss really likes you.

Cons

A lot depends on your manager and his/her manager, which can lead to wide disparity. There are no true metrics for career advancement and salary information is especially secretive, leading to the ability to maintain said disparity. The good managers often have their hands tied and the bad ones are so busy looking for ways to look better that they take what's good out of you. It's an endless cycle. Those who desire career advancement have to hope that someone will eventually give them a chance. HR practices have enough holes to rival Swiss cheese. Advancement opportunities seem to be relegated to those from the outside and "friends" of those currently in management. Middle and upper management are out of touch with those actually in the trenches.

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5.0
Jun 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great work life balance, good benefits, decent pay, ease of running your own practice as an “advisor”, and healthy work environment

Cons

Management styles can vary and affect your experience, upper management doesn’t seem to be well equipped to ensure the organization’s success but it is resilient nonetheless.

2.0
Jul 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good starting salary and benefits package.

Cons

The longer you’re there, the more of an expectation that you work more for the same or less income. Producers find it hard to justify staying when leadership keeps moving the goal posts on how to increase income. No rhyme or reason as to how they decide “promotions.” One advisor might have one good year and get promoted over an advisor that produces year in and year out. They fail to share revenue because they’d have a hard time justifying the income level compared to outside advisors with a fraction of the book size. They claim and depend on brand recognition to justify a capped income but fail, or just won’t admit that is why they keep losing their top talent. Operations is a nightmare that I can’t even begin to describe. When I share the processes that have been in place for over a decade, colleagues in the industry shake their head and laugh. They can’t believe we earn and keep business. The saying while I was there was “the biggest threat we face is that TIAA clients start to explore their options outside of TIAA.”

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