Pros
Client relationships are fulfilling. Unfortunately, this was overshadowed by the work environment and unreasonable work load.
Cons
There is a lack of investment in technology - the CRM that was built in-house to save money lacks functionality and is not used by employees, they replaced our desk phones with a Zoom app and desktop widget which constantly fails and results in client calls cutting out or dropping altogether, and we receive client/third party complaints about the non user-friendly client portal (ex: passwords can only be reset internally by Operations, specifically thanks to one individual who makes herself available past work hours and on weekends). Regarding the CEO’s behavior to which several people can attest - she lies about employee retention rates (20% in 2022 thus far) and reasoning/timing of departures (following the departure of the SROs in January, several clients were not informed for months; other clients were allegedly told there was drug and alcohol use involved). She exaggerates employees’ years of experience to clients (ex: one colleague had 6 yrs experience and she rounded up to 10 yrs in a client communication). She displays favoritism and nepotism (ex: the CFO is a long time personal friend of hers who she hired shortly after starting at Sentinel). She comments on employees’ race/weight/family situations/mental health/fertility and medical circumstances (ex: she called an employee who had children outside of marriage “white trash” during a meeting). There have been multiple incidents of her tracking LinkedIn activity and contacting employees (even on weekends) to ask why they liked certain articles. She also informed several employees of a colleague’s divorce (a private matter he did not disclose for over a year) and shared copies of his divorce papers. There is a lack of confidentiality with HR. Information is reported back to the CEO for her to handle directly. Resignations have been followed by the silent treatment from upper management and the leadership team (i.e. refusing to make eye contact or respond to greetings in the hallway). Non-shareholder staff are contacted on their personally paid cell phones, often outside of work hours. Lack of resources and human capital is disguised as an opportunity to “be a team player” and “wear many hats” without proper compensation. Ex: the two Investment Advisor positions were never filled following employee departures more than two years ago. SROs with no investment experience were expected to take over their project work. Although the CEO has confirmed the firm has been increasingly profitable year after year, compensation is below market with raises below inflation.
