Actual living nightmare - Participant Services Representative Vanguard Employee Review

1.0
25 Apr 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The health benefits are good.

Cons

I don't even know where to begin. I know a few middle aged adults who work at vanguard and have decent jobs in the business side of the company but unless you started at vanguard 15 yeasrs ago, your going to be put in the call center. And I can honestly tell you, you will never leave. You may be sent to a different area of the call center but you will still be in the call center. I asked my manager how to work in IT or marketing and she said.....do we even have IT and marketing departments? This company isn't what you may have heard from older individuals or family members who work there. It used to be, but now it is a call center job not an actual job. You are expected to know so much information involving IRS regulations and investments but are just stuck in a seat with a headset and fed to the wolves. It is nonstop. The calls are non stop and I mean you do not have time to breathe between a call it keeps going and going and going until you are actually mentally insane and calling suicide hotline on your break. Most managers send the whole teams stats out everyday in a bulk email so everyone can see how bad eachother is doing with staying on call 24/7 or how bad everyone is doing on call reviews. These stats embaress everyone so much that they actually sort of work in fear of being the one person who has red highlighted over their name, saying they are below all of the standards. Every day that company is thinking of new ways and ideas to keep everyone answering calls every second and making them as short as possible and never messing up or saying the wrong word. The difference between this call center and other call centers like Comcast is vanguard, has employees who are very educated and can spend time calculating ways to mentally chain everyone to their headsets. Their manipulative and they are good at it. If you apply for this job, myes well apply to Comcast and Verizon too. My advice, apply to fidelity instead, I heard they are a lot more tolerable.

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5.0
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CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good balance and early career development

Cons

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3.0
3 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Awesome coworkers for young professionals. Paid licensing for a few months.

Cons

Micromanagement is out of control. Incompetent team leaders who are obsessed with power and metrics. Back to back calls, limited support, and nearly impossible effective communication between departments. Zero time to cultivate culture because you are taking calls every second of the day except for 30min/1hr lunch and two 15 minute breaks. You’re locked into your role for over a year (apprenticeship for around 60 days, then a year after promotion to associate) and your team leaders will not approve internal applications unless you are “eligible”.

4
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