Pros
Benefits aren't the worst- not great medical, but not terrible. OK 401k. A lot of people stick around for the pension which you are eligible for after 3 years.
Cons
I made this review because I noticed a lot of highly positive reviews as of late- this is because management of many of the teams held meetings and asked employees to leave positive reviews due to the negative reviews posted at the time, but I don't feel these accurately represent working at Northern Trust. *HIGHLIGHTS: Poor salary, culture clash, no advancement, poor management* So where to start...firstly, salary. Salary is low for the industry average, but pretty on par for the local area. Companies know they have a pipeline of new talent from ASU grads, and a lot of finance firms have operations offices in the Phoenix area, so while you won't get paid much, you won't get much higher unless you work in actual finance. The bonuses are SMALL. Even for employees rated as high performers, who only receive a fraction of a percentage higher than those who aren't. Which brings me to the second area of discussion- the work itself. Don't be fooled by the recruiters or interviewers- all jobs in the Tempe office are Operations. During my time, I've seen a lot of people join the team (myself included) with the understanding that the job was completely different than what it was due to the interview tactics. Some people were straight up lied to about the job. They'll say anything to get you in the door. Why? The training is minimal. They don't have formal trainers, and most teams don't have formal training plans. It's a game of 'who has time to sit with the noob(s).' Because they don't invest in the training of their employees, they don't invest in retaining their employees because there is little value there. In periods of high turnover on the team, they simply put the extra work on other employees. And when employees take on more work, many teams decide to cap overtime hours in a comical lapse in judgement. It's choices like these that reflect the management at Northern Trust. In alts, and in every department I have encountered. Management itself sees a high rate of turnover, but the constant seems to be managers that are controlling, ill-trained, and don't value employees (exceptions to this are rare). Any pitch of 'work/life balance' is because they don't want to pay you overtime. In reality, work life balance is hard to attain because getting time off can be difficult. Only a certain amount of people can be out on a team on any given day, and you're only expected to take time off when you have down time or no deadlines. Thirdly- the culture. I mentioned the pension in the Pros section. This is a great aspect of the company until it isn't. This means a lot of people are there to coast for as long as they can to get their pension. It makes it harder for people who want to actually come in and do good work to work with other teams and people. An older Glassdoor review said NT cuture is "Be seen and not heard." I think this is the most accurate thing I've read on here. Managers encourage innovation but don't want actual change, and see suggestions as complaints. There is also a HUGE culture clash with the Arizona natives vs. Chicago transplants. Chicago people are often viewed as 'elite' even though these will almost without fail be 1) the same people whos teams were moved to AZ because of poor performance and 2) are there to coast for their pension. Another fun twist to the culture is the fact that managers are brought in from India, and no matter what team you're on, somewhere down the line the Bangalore or other non-US team is handling your assets/accounts/clients/etc. This creates a huge opportunity for clashes in communication, culture, sense of urgency, etc. In terms of career growth, this really varies by team. If you're on a team with a high rate of turnover and constant vacancies, chances are you'll be made senior after your first year but then stagnate in your career. Other than this, there may be some lateral growth but nothing outstanding.
