Working at The Vanguard Group — Reviews by Employees

Pay: The pay is ok. The company hasn't given decent raises since 2000. Also they have a practice of bringing in recent college graduates at ridiculously high salaries and putting them on pedestals. Some of these young'uns are pretty good, many are ok, some are just plain incompetent. But - Vanguard mgmt keeps all of them on their pedestals, gives them lots of recognition and promotions. Meanwhile, good people with a few grey hairs and lines on their faces are increasingly overlooked.

Respect: While Vanguard's culture won't tolerate obvious abuse, the culture isn't outright respectful either. If you talk to management about a problem that either they don't want to deal with, or that they have caused, they will tell you that everything is a matter of perception, and your perception is incorrect. There really is no problem. Along those lines, Management makes no mistakes. At least that's what *they* believe.

Benefits: Benefits are great, no denying it. Excellent healthcare, including dental, and generous vacation time.

Job Security: This company is not going away any time soon, or shrinking in size. Job security is a huge plus.

Work/Life Balance: Depends on the department. Some areas of the company can allow you to have a life outside of your job, some can't.

Career Potential/Growth: It's a huge company with many departments. Moving around is fairly easy. Moving up, however, requires a lot of butt-kissing. Over the years, the culture has put increasing emphasis on kissing up, so that management are now little kings and queens running private domains. Don't expect to be recognized for doing good work here, or promoted based on your qualifications. Sucking-up ability is all you need.

Location: very accessible, and a nice suburban area. Lots of good restaraunts nearby and bedroom communities in all directions.

Co-Worker Competence: This is the biggest area of frustration in Vanguard. This company has a policy to not fire people based on performance issues. They'll fire someone for forwarding an email containing a dirty joke, but we have people who have no idea what their job entails or how to do it, and they don't care. The Vanguard Group is a growing cesspool of incompetence and indifference. It brings tears to my eyes, because this used to be a great company. When I leave this company, I will be pulling my money out and investing elsewhere. The growing level of incompetence alarms me.

Work Environment: The buildings are nice, and well-maintained. The culture, however, is weird. If you have a lot of work to do and a coworker wants to hang out at your cube and talk, you are expected to hang out and talk. Management insists that we must accomodate everyone's social needs, and that means your work can wait if someone wants to chat it up for an hour. I wish I were kidding.