Is Northwestern Mutual a good company to work for?

Northwestern Mutual has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on over 12,837 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has increased by 4% over the last 12 months. 70% of employees would recommend working at Northwestern Mutual to a friend and 73% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Northwestern Mutual have been left by employees working as Managing Director , Wealth Management Advisor and Director of Selection .

Does Northwestern Mutual pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Northwestern Mutual employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.8 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Northwestern Mutual. This rating has improved by 5% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Northwestern Mutual?

70% of Northwestern Mutual employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Northwestern Mutual 4.0 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.1 for culture and values and 4.0 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Northwestern Mutual?

Financial Representative (2899) , Financial Advisor (1412) , College Financial Representative (935) , Financial Representative Intern (427) , Intern (406) , Associate Financial Representative (260) , Recruiter (157) , Internship (115) , Associate Wealth Management Advisor (94) , Financial Services Representative (85) , Sales Representative (76) , Software Engineer (71) , Financial Planner (64) , Wealth Management Advisor (59) , Administrative Assistant (57)

What are the pros of working at Northwestern Mutual according to real employee reviews?

"The actual job was easy and I got to get to know some really great people!" ((in 896 reviews)); "The office that I work in has a great culture and we have become like a big family." ((in 813 reviews)); "Northwestern has some great training and they do pair you with a mentor to help you get started." ((in 605 reviews)); "Their healthcare benefits are great for the Milwaukee area staff (Miserable for New York folks)." ((in 249 reviews)); "Great training program they taught you a lot about the business and how it worked." ((in 214 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Northwestern Mutual according to real employee reviews?

"Base pay is horrendous and for an internship commission only is hard to live off of." ((in 550 reviews)); "No salary and expenses after two years" ((in 410 reviews)); "Pay is low (pretty much all commission based except for $100 weekly stipend)." ((in 314 reviews)); "Only focused on selling Insurance" ((in 172 reviews)); "Poor management and too many reorganizations" ((in 161 reviews))

What are employees saying about Northwestern Mutual layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Northwestern Mutual layoffs and their outlook for job security at Northwestern Mutual in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Northwestern Mutual locations?

Milwaukee , New York , Chicago , Los Angeles , Dallas , Franklin , Denver , Atlanta , Pittsburgh , San Diego , Minneapolis , Boston , Houston , San Francisco , Philadelphia , Saint Louis , Tampa , Indianapolis , Richmond , Irvine , Seattle , Orlando , Cincinnati , Charlotte , West Hartford , Raleigh , Austin , Nashville , Columbus , Albany

Northwestern Mutual reviews

4.0

70% would recommend to a friend

(8,236 total reviews)

Timothy J. Gerend

94% approve of CEO

73% positive business outlook

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Northwestern Mutual has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 8,236 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Northwestern Mutual employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Financial Services industry (3.8 stars).

Reviews by job title

8K reviews

1.0

Apr 24, 2024

Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisors are Life Insurance Agents

Director

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

There is flexibility in your schedule, because you aren't really an employee of Northwestern Mutual (Unless you are in the Milwaukee building) you are either an independent contractor or a Staff member to one of the thousands of independent brokers who contract with NWM.

Cons

Northwestern Mutual is a Life Insurance company, you will be asked to sell life insurance primarily. This is a commission job, there is no salary, so you need to sell insurance unless you are independently wealthy. Northwestern Mutual is as close to a multi-level marketing scheme as you can get. From how the "Advisors" make up the individual offices that feed into networks that feed into the central office; it is a big pyramid. They have profoundly disturbing and deceiving recruitment practices, grossly over inflate the earning potential, and never mention their abysmal retention rates. The only “Financial Advising” going on is agents trying to convince their own friends that they need 7 million in life insurance or else they do not love their family.

2.0

Nov 30, 2023

Better be a stone cold salesman

Financial representative

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

If you're able to sell insurance and consistently find new people to sell to you'll love the work and you'll be rewarded handsomely with great pay and a very flexible schedule.

Cons

This position is touted as you becoming a financial advisor as you are being on-boarded. Throughout the interview process they show you how you'll be helping people and that they approach financial planning in a well-rounded way. Once you get to training it's very clear how sales oriented and life insurance focused the whole thing is. Not to mention the whole "give us 200 names of your closest friends and family" ordeal so that you can sell to the ones you love first. My MD once told me he had 500-600 clients and that was the ideal goal for a rep. I don't know how someone manages 5-600 people as a "financial advisor" without losing people along the way. The true answer is that even when you are a quote unquote financial advisor for this company you're still just slinging insurance. If you really want to be a financial advisor and do good work that actually helps the majority of people, find another place to work.

3.0

Nov 8, 2023

Avoid if you can, or use them as a stepping stone

Senior software engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Modern Tech Stack, standard benefits(19 days PTO, health insurance, no perks) Use this company as a stepping stone to pursue something better.

Cons

- Poor Management: Eng Managers,Product Managers, Quality Assurance (probably the most inept group of people in the company). Nobody has the technical aptitude to have a high level conversation. This is bound to happen if managers who have no engineering experience are promoted to managers. - Politics: They don't care about client's privacy. Never seen so many teams non-compliant to Engineering best practices. The organization prioritizes delivering products over customer security. - Senior Leadership: Unprepared folks at the top level that have no clue and like to live in their happy bubble. There was a large meeting in which all the lower level employees embarrassed the senior leadership and exposed them for lying. - Engineering: It is not a priority for the company. Pay is not competitive because the revenue generated are from the Financial Reps efforts so the rewards mostly go to them. - Compensation: They need to understand they have to compete in the NYC market. Just because they are the king of Milwaukee doesn't mean NYC staff should be treated the same way. They are nobody in NY.

Viewing 55 - 57 of 8,236 Reviews

Jobs at Northwestern Mutual

College Financial Representative, Internship Program

College Financial Representative, Internship Program

College Financial Representative, Internship Program

College Financial Representative, Internship Program

College Financial Representative, Internship Program