Vanguard reviews

3.7

69% would recommend to a friend

(6,301 total reviews)

Salim Ramji

76% approve of CEO

66% positive business outlook

Vanguard has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 6,301 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Vanguard employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Financial Services industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

6K reviews
3.0
Jan 23, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The way the company is set up is great. This was an entry level position for me, and they had a program that took two years, but would put you into a management position right after that. Pretty great. They pride themselves on never having had a lay-off. They give you time off to study if your job requires that you get licenses (I had a month and a half of paid "no work" time in order to study and test for my Series 6 and 63). I believe that they will do that for the Series 7 too if you go into brokerage. They match 5% of your 401(k) contributions.

Cons

They are only located in Scottsdale, AZ, and Valley Forge, PA. So you had better want to live in one of those spots. Pay is bad. Starting salary for my entry level job was $33,500.00 non-netgotiable. I was in a management meeting once and even management was joking about how bad the pay was (but they say that they make up for it in job security, by never having a lay-off). Dress is very conservative. Even non-client-facing positions require guys to wear suits and ties (except in summer they're allowed to wear a polo because of the heat in AZ). Women must even wear stockings under their pants (my manager actually enforced this, but I've heard that some let it slide).

4.0
Jan 7, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great environment. Low stress for the most part. Good people to work with.

Cons

Benefits being cut back for families. Slow progression. Tenure over Talent is the unspoken rule.

3.0
Jan 4, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The benefits are SECOND TO NONE. The Vanguard University Program is Outstanding. Outstanding technology that would make George Jetson blush.

Cons

I'm gonna keep this short and sweet: There have been many downsides in the past few months; a great deal of terminations which brings the question of the way we are trained. I've seen a great deal of apathy from management, conforming to procedures that I feel, they don't even believe in. I'm seeing the morale at it's lowest. Management: Mostly young and are educated, brillant and have the ambition for growth; but, there is a fine line between knowledge of procedures, functions and applications v. leading people from all backgrounds, from all walks of life and it takes a special person to have, to possess that type of attribute. You have some TLs and management from mid to higher levels who really don't have that gift or they're just looking out to cover their backsides; at the expense of the associates. It's all about fear and it always happens during an economic setback. You do have some managers who are loyal and dedicated to their associates in different types of degree and we as the crewmembers struggle to drive to work through rain, wind and snow, we stay long hours and will bend over backwards to see to it that a new shareholder or beneficary is serviced correctly; even if it takes a few hours or a few days to do so. It should never be about productivity; it's about quality, like making a Rolls Royce, built by hand. That's how a company attains The Gold Standard; but, Vanguard wont attain that, if they'll use the practices of a 1920s assembly line. We do so much for wages and salaries that are not that much. That's why some of us have other jobs working seven days a week, total.....and it's still not enough.

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Glassdoor has 6,992 Vanguard reviews submitted anonymously by Vanguard employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Vanguard is right for you.