customer service representative

solutions engineer

analyst

associate

software engineer

Capital Group

The Irvine Campus looks very nice, it's well kept and is a nice quiet place to work at night.

The Technology area is very poorly managed.
There are several challenges here.

Each department is a silo.  Developers know our own team and our own project but rarely have any opportunity to meet with similar teams and establish standards, come up with unified deployment models or even know the security or server teams.

Why is there a manager for every five or six people?
Why are these managers always in meetings with each other?
Why do these managers only tell us the bad things in their meetings?  


The CTO never communicates with any of the workers.  This is one of those companies where our lower manager will talk with the teams, the Sr. Manager talks with the Lower Manager, the 'Director' works with the Sr. Manager, and the Security and Operation heads are generally missing.

The management model is goes something like this.
We get bonus twice per year.  If we are quiet and go with the flow we'll be looked on like we did our jobs.  If you in a position where you made somebody uncomfortable by asking a sensitive question such as "Is this the best way to do this project?" you can be seen as disruptive and at risk for having your peers not give you a great review thus affecting your large bonuses.

Management and staff are shuffled about yearly.  So you end up with a lower manager who knows little about what they're trying to manage.  When needed they are unable to technically qualify new employees because they are not experts in the subject they manage.

Most of the staff are not outsourced.  Associates are left to supervise the contracted staff. 
There are so many layers of managers and objections.  The culture is made up of meetings that go no where.  Again there is no leadership thus there is no company format for meetings.

The same topics get discussed little gets decided and more meetings scheduled.  It feels like we make jobs for people to have meetings to talk and do little.

There are few experts in this company.
We get emails from the head of security showing how great they are with security by talking about phishing attacks on email.
Security guys are all show and no substance
Management is about looking busy.

If we ever could get the attention of the principals of the company there is so much cost savings potential by replacing most of the current upper management and stream lining.

Application developers work very hard, working nights and week ends.  They are from another country and not associates.

For those in other areas the company may be different.  But if you work in Development and IT you will see a much darker petty culture of non achievers.

If you ask somebody who is allowed to tell the truth you may hear a very different side to the Capital Group Companies stories.

If the company did not have so much money each year they would have less management, if they had less management the extreme weakness would be exposed.  It seems they just hire more managers to hide and isolate departments

There are more details of poor ethics to be told but by reading this you get the idea.  

Pay is pretty good, job is very easy for most.  But this is not a good place for am ambitious honest person.

The Capital Group is a large and complex organization, so there will be a wide range of experiences. But for the vast majority of people I worked with, it's a great environment, you're working with incredibly talented and dedicated individuals, and the benefits are amazing.

The benefits include top-tier insurance (HMO and PPO options), two planned bonuses per year (for non-salaried employees they can total between 6 to 10 weeks of pay or even more, based on personal and company performance), generous PTO (over 3 weeks to start) and a great retirement plan. (It's called "MRP," and it acts like a 401(k) that they contribute into for you. Whatever your salary+OT+bonuses are for the year, they deposit an additional 15% into the plan for you. You're 100% vested after six years with the company). They have a regular 401(k) but it's not matching.

People stay a REALLY LONG time there, so it's very hard to 'move up the ladder.' There are spurts of time where you're offered education opportunities, but they tend to be sporadic. Generally you absolutely need to take ownership of your career there. (There's constant talk about 'growth' but it's much more talk than action.)

The company is very methodical about their business decisions (which comes from their investment culture -- be super sure of something before you do it) so they tend to be slower to move, but when the move, it's usually not a disaster. (But that's debatable for some.)

One thing to be aware of is, the front-line managers have essentially 100% authority over their working teams. 90% of the managers I've worked with are absolutely great, and foster positive teams. I've worked with a couple that are completely toxic. As long as the work is getting done, however, senior managers won't step in. Unless a law is being broken, HR is basically there to let you vent, and that's it.

My advice is if you can get a job at Capital, take it, and try to stick-out the six years. (If you're in your 20s, and can do that, you will have an excellent shot of retiring a millionaire.) Keep an eye out for those toxic managers (everyone knows who they are) and jump teams immediately if you find yourself under one.

Working as a Customer Service Rep at CG is truly a dead end job. Within the past couple years, people have retired after 20+ years of service in the Shareholder Services Department (customer service) and their title at the time of retirement was a Senior Rep. This meams they've only received one promotion. You might assume this means they were slackers, but in reality these were the seasoned reps that the managers would go to when they didn't know the answers. 

Senior Managers say that there's no room for growth because the company is so great that people never leave. Not true. With each new hire class there seems to be 1 or 2 people who were hired from outside to be managers. The people inside get to be manager "interns" - they do the work of a manager for 12 or 18 months & pray they get promoted ( but rarely do). They have people wasting their time answering phone calls who have investment experience and manager experience but won't let them be managers. 

Some of the managers are good. Some don't think out the box. Some are bad. Some are horrible. The hours are good. No weekends and the building shuts down at 5:30 or 6. Benefits are amazing. Most people stay for the retirement plan. Its 15% of what you made for the year. Cheap but good health insurance. 2 bonueses a year, and if your not doing too good you still get a bonus just not as much. So you basically get a bonus for breathing. Vacation days are awesome, you get 3 1/2 starting out. It would be sweet if people could work from home. Lots of call centers do it now. CG has people that drive from the peninsula to work there, you start to feel bad for them.

Being on the phone 40 hours a week is rough. Aftee a while they teach you to set up accounts but if you make a mistake they really hold it against you real bad. Mistakes can knock you out of the "favorites group."

If you really need a job, work here. Don't get suckered by the retirement plan. Save any money over what you made at your ladt job so you can walk away easier.

Capital Group is one of the companies where people act very nicely outside but secretly they only put up a nice front so that you give them good peer performance review because it affects their yearly bonus. The yearly bonus is boasted to be generous at about 14-20% per year but what they do is pay you lower than industry average and then use the bonus to make it up. Everybody is all about these bonuses and willing to claim credits for other people's work, and pretend to be nice but will back stab you whenever opportunity comes.

Work hours is horrible. They recently re-orged and fired a bunch of managers and employees. The engineers fortunately left behind are forced to wear many hats, including production support at 1-2AM in the morning when things break (and things break all the time because there are so much red tape and blockers in everything).

Managers are overworked and will squeeze everything out of you (because it affects their bonuses too, read above). The company culture is supposedly to help you pick a career path you want to go and be open about. LIE! Remember this: never tell your boss that you eventually want to become a manager, and never tell your boss that you are thinking about any other opening positions besides the one you're currently in. His/her opinion about you will change immediately, and there's nothing you can do about it. It is happening to me right now and the manager is giving me special treatment because I accidentally told him I wanted to explore other positions within the company. DON'T do it! I will leave as soon as I find another opportunity.

If you wanna do well, shut up and do your job. Don't complain about all the unpaid overtime. Be nice to your peers with hope they will give you good performance review. Make sure to give gifts to your manager when holidays come around. Don't ask for time off and don't complain about midnight call for production support.

My typical day at CG consists of daily tier 2 hardware, software, and Cisco/Aspect break/fix and troubleshooting issues. CG uses HP CPQ 7800, HP 8000 and 8200 SFF desktops with dual and triple monitor displays. They also use Lenovo T410S and T420 series laptops which are configured to a docking station to utilize dual monitor display. I deploy and setup all of this hardware and install the various applications that they use. Such applications include everything from Microsoft Office products, Adobe licensed software, and the numerous in house applications that they use. I remedy all hardware and software issues that can not be resolved remotely via the helpdesk tier 1 support. I contact and communicate with third party vendors for warranty repairs on hardware and Multi function printer devices. I've learned the most in time management due to the 850 users that I directly support, as well as my ability to troubleshoot quickly on ad-hoc situations. My colleagues are exceptional in terms of support and coverage when someone from our team is out of the office. We all work together to provide seamless end user support. Managements open door policy is extremely nice and supportive. The hardest part of my job is definitely balancing open incidents with the rigourous project testing with Windows XP to Windows 7, and Lotus Notes to Microsoft Outlook for email. The most enjoyable aspect of my job is the satisfaction and praise that I receive in the office daily for my hardware work ethic to resolve incidents and get my users working at full capacity.

I've been with CG for 26 years.  I work with people that weren't even born when I started.  That'll make you bring things into perspective.  The company has evolved so much over that timeline I can't even grasp the enormity of it.  I'll be retiring soon, and the biggest regret I'll have is not seeing my veteran co-workers on a daily basis.  The environment is that good.  I never felt like it was a "call center" even though I've been answering phones my entire career here.  The company's impeccable reputation in  the industry means you are highly unlikely to have to apologize for its actions.  Truly, I don't remember any scandals that embarrassed the company or its leaders over my career.   The people and culture at the top has been inspirational, and the ultimate reason I've stayed onboard all these years.  Those co-workers I've known over the years that have sought greener pastures, have by and large regretted leaving, with few exceptions.  Those few exceptions are exceptional individuals and I commend their spirit of adventure and drive.  As for me, I have cultivated a circle of friends that includes co-workers and managers at all levels and the ability to offer frank  consultation and opinion whenever I want without fear of retribution.  I can only hope my younger co-workers can achieve that level of comfort with management interaction.  To my younger co-workers, see the bigger picture.  This company is a solid company to work for.  If your dreams take you on a different path, that's fine.  But if you think there's greener pasture at another company in this industry, wake up, because you're dreaming.

This place may be good for you as a first or second job. Outside of that I would not recommend. I left a full time job for this company and that wasn't the best choice. There is literally NO work life balance. Overtime is presented as optional when you are hired, but after its "The overtime is mandatory, not working it is a negative mark against you". Have kids? A part time job? Classes? any other responsibilities for your off hours? They don't care. Overtime is great but not when your literally being forced to work through all of your off days and an hour early plus an hour late on your scheduled days, it becomes extremely tiring. Majority of us struggle to stay awake at work because we are working THAT much. The past few months, they have taken every single off day we were scheduled. But, the employees who are higher in rank still get off on time and get their off days. Also, I have noticed ALOT of my co workers being fired ( ATLEAST 15) without good reason. You could clock in 2 minutes late its a negative mark, the marks add up. These reasonings do not make much since when they are forcing us to work extra already. You clearly need the people your firing over such small reasons. You have to sign in and out to use the restroom, your tracked as if your in high school. AND THEY STAND AT THE END OF YOUR ROW AND LITERALLY WATCH YOU ALL DAY, its so uncomfortable to feel like someone is staring you down. Some of them are very nice, but others have nasty attitudes when you ask them for help. Which is not okay because their job is literally to help. I know that this feeling goes for a lot of people as well because me and my entire team all have these same complaints. As soon as I find new employment I will jump for joy!!

What is the best part of working at the company?
Easy communication between all five US sites. Team spirit is very prevalent. Opportunity for working on extra projects outside your job description. Respectful atmosphere, equal and thorough level of training between all five sites. Comfortable work environment and well-kept outside areas. All job necessities freely provided.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The only stress for me was working on a project with other sites, just because communication and getting questions answered were not always easy to schedule or timely. The job itself was not stressful.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is ideal - easy communication with higher management, you are provided all tools needed to do your job successfully, your personal environment is taken into consideration and adjusted to as needed.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
When I was in Customer Service, most of the day was spent answering calls from mutual fund brokers. Answering questions about our company, providing additional phone numbers as needed, sending them literature they could provide to their clients, explaining mutual fund investing and investing these mutual funds into retirement plans if applicable.
In the Training Department, the day was spent in classroom with newly hired Customer Service Reps, how they would talk to brokers on the phone, how to refer calls if needed, and providing them with the literature needed for their current client(s).

I came in as a contractor on a 12 month assignment and have been granted a 6 month extension. Sadly this one ends at a firm 18 months with no pathway for further extensions available.

I’ve never worked with brighter or more motivated people. The org structure and the particular business unit I worked within was a breath of fresh air in terms of leadership style, culture, dynamics, and work/life balance.

On any given day, I can be found working within any or all parts of the recruiting cycle. Much time is spent assisting any number of local and national hiring managers with assessing current business or technical needs and helping them translate these intangible items into workable requirements.

These requirements are then communicated to our vendors. At this time I will ensure that these points of contact are aligned with our needs and have adequate bandwidth to impact them.

Upon receipt of resumes and pending qualification, I coordinate interviews and ultimately deliver feedback to our vendors, either initiating on-boarding procedures or helping them to refine their sourcing focus.

The hardest part of this job is also the most enjoyable for me - the human factor. You never know what will happen from one day to the next and the industry constantly evolves keeping me on my toes. I also greatly enjoy the interaction with my peers and leadership.

This company says that they want to know our feedback on procedures and how they affect our work efficiency and then do exactly the opposite. They implement new and complicated policies and procedures at the busiest time of the year with minimal training that is all virtual. This is despite the fact that most employees have requested more in depth training and in person training as was done in the past. 

There is constant required overtime due to being under staffed. If an employee is unable to work the overtime it affects their compensation at review time. 

Employees are strongly encouraged to give feedback to their peers whenever they make a mistake or simply don’t know something. That feedback then goes to the recipients manager and can affect their compensation at review time.

When applying for internal positions applicants are selected according to who they know, not their qualifications. 

The company says that associates should take care of themselves and their families however have terminated associates 1 for requesting accommodations for cancer treatments and being able to work from home and another  for requesting to be able to work reduced hours for a time following return to work after a kidney transplant.

While they have a generous vacation, sick and retirement plan, I would not recommend this company.


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Customer service representative 3 salaries reported	$53,000 per year
Solutions engineer 18 salaries reported	$127,025 per year
Analyst 3 salaries reported	$128,667 per year
Associate 5 salaries reported	$91,800 per year
Software engineer 3 salaries reported	$128,333 per year

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