Northwestern Mutual reviews

4.0

70% would recommend to a friend

(8,243 total reviews)

Timothy J. Gerend

94% approve of CEO

73% positive business outlook

Northwestern Mutual has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 8,243 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
4.0
May 7, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Be your own boss (some exceptions may apply) No cap on income or commission Great company resources and training Generally excellent corporate culture Well established process and systems to track growth of your practice

Cons

It is very, very hard to be successful if you are not well connected or a natural networker. You will have business expenses deducted from your commission by your managing partner or managing director, and you won't have an option to negotiate those regardless of how much or how little value the associated services provide Taxes... you're going to write a check 4x per year to the IRS, and the better you do the bigger the check will be. The beginning stage of growing your practice will require more than 40 hours per week to make it work- they're not likely to mention that the first 5+ years will require 50-70 hours per week on average to build a successful and sustainable business. Most of the senior leadership "grew up" in the business when conditions were significantly different economically and in the sales environment than they are today. Everything from sales credit to the regulatory environment to technology has shifted drastically, and like most companies Northwestern and its leaders are making an effort but still struggling to adapt to the pace of change.

5.0
Oct 1, 2018

Financial Advisor

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

All of the work I put in up front paid off, and now I have a flexible work schedule and a lot of money coming in.

Cons

It's hard at the beginning and there are days when you want to quit, now looking back at those, I'm so glad I stayed!

1.0
Jan 20, 2018

Assistant Director

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great people with talent and commitment to their work. Great benefits and work amenities that simply can't be beat

Cons

Horrible strategic leadership. Executive leadership even went as far as saying after layoffs they will repurpose the head count to hire younger people, who will hold greater responsibility for less salary expense. (Age discrimination?) Problem is when you layoff your more experienced leadership to do that who will be left to lead this green new generation of leaders. Therein lays the utter directionless mess the firm is in.

Viewing 79 - 81 of 8,243 Reviews

Glassdoor has 12,847 Northwestern Mutual reviews submitted anonymously by Northwestern Mutual employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Northwestern Mutual is right for you.