Northwestern Mutual reviews

4.0

72% would recommend to a friend

(8,269 total reviews)

Timothy J. Gerend

95% approve of CEO

73% positive business outlook

Northwestern Mutual has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 8,269 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
2.0
Mar 4, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The annual bonus is a nice perk and does inspire some loyalty. I appreciate that there is a pension after 3 years of service. The pay is decent compared to other call centers but just scraping entry level under other professional circumstances. Lots of nice people. Clean, safe work environment. Casual dress. The free lunch is cool and a community builder, though not very appetizing.

Cons

Technologically this department is woefully behind. It suggests this department is of little consequence to NM as a whole. I also agree with a number of the negative comments here that refer to the inability to got PTO requests approved despite them being long-standing. You are literally a slave to their forecasting without anyone realizing how absurd the set-up is - those who have worked in other call centers can surely attest to how ridiculous it is that a PTO request pending since November should remain unapproved in the following June or August... there is also a lot of favoritism and a lack of uniformity for how management deals with employee concerns. Some managers will manager approve PTO requests, for example, while others will not. The union here is effectively useless and holds low membership yet management blames many things which are clearly their discretion on the union... also, if you are absent you will be treated like a criminal and talked down to like you are a child. If you missed a day last February and then two days in January you will be on thin ice and talked to about your attendance. There are people who will literally come in vomiting, hacking to death, etc.. spreading disease. There are a number of things I find very odd about the way the department is managed. Managers are in meetings for hours at a time multiple days a week... what do they do? Not our job, that's for sure. Their positions are rewards for service and being favored. Your career growth is 100% determined by how popular you are with "leadership". This is good place for followers who do not challenge the status quo or people whose professional experience is so limited they do not understand some of the glaring flaws and absurdities. Also, you pay to park in the parking structure even though it is a private structure just for the Franklin location... ????? Health benefits are not that great.

5.0
Jan 25, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Emilia Sherifova was the breath of fresh air that this stale company needed. She set clear priorities and a strategic direction which enabled her team to get things done while the other areas of the company floundered around and then decided that it was time to reorganize because nothing was getting done. If the company had more strong, decisive leaders like Emilia it would be able to transform and lead the industry.

Cons

The company is plodding along and is still grasping for the right strategy and organizational structure going through one reorganization after another because the previous ones have not worked.

2.0
Jan 29, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I met some great people during my time there. The training program is top-notch. If you stay long enough, you should undoubtedly develop professional skills that can follow you wherever your path might take you. It is a great place to develop different skills early on in your career.

Cons

They will encourage you to heavily rely of selling insurance products to your "warm market" family, friends, etc. They do this by setting minimum expectations, such as if you don't sell 20 "lives" AKA policies by the end of 6 months, you're let go. For at least the first 1-2 years, don't plan on doing much planning. All You will be doing is selling Insurance. If you don't sell insurance, you will not make anything. It's difficult to create a personalized financial plan when practically the only way you make your money is selling Life insurance, Disability, and LTC. (Obviously these things are crucial in a financial plan. However, if you are younger and working with a majority young/single market, this most likely is not the case. Even after you make a sale, be prepared to tell your clients often times that it came back "approved other than applied for"

Viewing 133 - 135 of 8,269 Reviews

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