Pros
When you start out at the basic level of a phone rep, this is one of the only few companies that you can get the experience of talking to an investor directly besides Fidelity and Charles Schwab. Other mutual fund companies you only deal with the financial advisor at other brokerage firms. You'll work on a team (I prefer the word 'group' because it's really not a team; and this is a job, not a career). You'll receive head to toe coverage: Medical, Dental, Vision, even a Life insurance policy while there. It is possible to move to other departments, but to do so, you'll have to set up sit-with's in that department, go through several mock interviews and make no mistake on your interviews. That's fine if they'd give you the time to do all of this, but they won't. There are an incredible amount of resources available to help you and for the most part you can get the help that you need for even the most outrageous of client inquiries. I will say that it's a mixed pot when it comes to management. There are some with a high level of integrity and simply 'get it'. These individuals truly deserve recognition and accolades while others simply lack managerial experience and lack in leadership and people skills. It's inexplicable why these individuals are even fit for the lowest positions as supervisors in the organization and deserve to be demoted or fired.
Cons
This is an organization where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing and vice versa. Upper management will make the most ridiculous of decisions to focus on, such as how often you use a web tech feature to co-browse the website with clients together or force an entire department to not take calls and 'act busy' to appease some decision made for no apparent reason. All of the assets Vanguard had pulled in over the past 2 years and they couldn't anticipate the demand for additional employees based upon the new business they pulled in. There is absolutely no flexibility built into the system. If you need to flex your schedule for a doctors appointment or to volunteer at an organization, it's not going to happen. I was ill and missed days of work, but was scolded for my absenteeism. Even with a valid reason, benefits would not let up on what's called the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). I run into this often with smaller organizations, and essentially what it is for is for companies that are going to do the bare minimum for it's employees consult with FMLA in order to avoid being in violation of the bureau of labor. From the client's perspective, their experience is getting worse and worse, with longer hold times, and as Vanguard loses its more talented and college educated employees you'll get a contractor who can't even answer the simplest of inquiries. And then they'll transfer you with another 10 minute hold on top of the 15 minute hold when you originally called in. I would have to approximate that 25 to 30% of Vanguard reps aren't suited to be answering your questions and will give you wrong information because they're too lazy to look up additional details. It's a top down level management approach. I've worked there for 3 years and you really don't have an idea what any member of the management team really does. All I notice is that they relay bad news from the very top as it trickles down to the bottom. Their measure of success is only in how long it takes for a phone rep to answer the line, but is limited to that. Your performance is purely on whether or not you made any mistakes where you start at 100% and can only lose, the more mistakes you make. Management has a way of quickly forgetting the good that you do, but dwelling on the bad forever and ever and ever. Even if you do the best of jobs, if management can't find something to critique you on, they'll just bring up what they can find from the year before. They'll hold you to a double standard saying that you have to take on more responsibility, but do so using less time. Vanguard is a purely reactive company that's structured around the service of the calls that come in. This is what's referred to as a push system in supply chain management and is prone to inefficiencies. Since I've joined, it's gotten progressively worse in terms of their service and their convoluted expectations for crew members to keep calls under 5 minutes long, including the time it takes to conclude the call and tie up all of the loose ends. I've never worked for a company that made me feel bad for working hard. I've seen several individuals retire from this company and if it wasn't for other caring individuals; this company couldn't care less your years of devout service. The only consolation you get from them is a glass bowl and a short message from the companies CEO. It's because there are hundreds of people on hold, so you get back to back calls; 30 minute lunches on a daily basis and all of your meetings will be cancelled.
