Fidelity Investments reviews

Honestly there are a lot of cons. I'll start with pay. The pay is definitely below market value. It's a hot economy and Fidelity openly admits that it pays less because the compensation is weighed more towards benefits. The problem is the benefits here aren't all that great. For example it takes 5 years to get vested in your 401k and a year before you are eligible for any match from the company. This may have been more impressive a few years ago, but many companies will vest you day 1 or within the first year of employment along with a match. Career advancement is slim to none for new associates. They have a career center on campus to help provide options for career growth, but the positions just aren't very attractive (phone work and processing work for various business units) and the level of effort to get those jobs is the same as just applying and interviewing for an outside role. There are too many hoops to jump through to move up within the company and honestly most people are in entry level roles for years before they move onto something else. Do you want to guarantee that you make entry level pay for years in this economy? The biggest con is definitely the work itself. I worked in a phone role in PI and it was without a doubt the worst professional experience I've ever had. Imagine having to describe something you hated day in and day out with a character limit. This is my dilemma. The job is ultimately a burnout job. You take 50-60 calls a day while processing requests in customer's accounts. There are numerous challenges whether it is explaining complex trading strategies to people, helping an 80 year old log into Fidelity.com and locating documents, telling a customer you cannot recommend specific stocks to them, calming down an angry customer cussing at you. It goes on and on. This isn't to mention challenges related to technology or hold times within departments. You're getting hit from all sides and will disappoint a lot of customers with Fidelity's policies (and lack of exceptions). The worst part of this job is knowing you did it and didn't build any meaningful experience to add to your resume. You never get to think for yourself or lead any sort of project since you're always on the assembly line. I would advise strongly against working here.

This company's trajectory has declined significantly post-pandemic from an employee perspective. Despite strong profits and employee satisfaction in the past few years, leadership has shifted focus towards excessive micromanagement. It started with connect weeks, with Abby claiming that Fidelity has lost some of its culture since going mostly remote. This isn't true if you ask employees, but leadership needs an excuse to be able to stand over people's shoulders while they're on their zoom calls. Weekly reports on the past deliveries have been mandated, ironically after dismantling Agile structures capable of real-time updates. And following the recent layoffs, employees are now expected to take on additional responsibilities without any corresponding increase in compensation, all while facing the looming threat of receiving a negative performance review. Adding insult to injury, other companies employ similar practices but offer better pay and greater flexibility in their Return to Office (RTO) policies. I saw a long-term future with Fidelity before the pandemic. Now I can't wait to find a way out.