counselor

data engineer

office assistant

processor

intern

Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Expectations: You come in for 8 hours a day and talk on the phones about retirement or other TRS processes and troubleshoot issues.

Reality:  You come in for 8ish (possibly more depending on the shift) hours a day and it's an incredibly random day...but it's usually on the more uncomfortable/depressing side of random. Maybe 0-5 calls in queue at anytime, maybe 200. 

The training process was mediocre and there's a lot of information that you are expected to digest, but it is definitely "doable". Unfortunately, it really doesn't translate on the phone, as there is plenty they leave out. 
You will wear many hats in this job. People will call to ask you every question under the sun, about TRS and about the most random things that are very un-TRS related. Sometimes you get the lighter side of things: People excitedly ready to retire, a happy retiree who just wanted legislation updates, or someone who just needs some forms sent out. Sometimes you get the darker side of things: people who threaten your life, those who want to steal their families members money, or those who may or may not have dementia and don't have anyone to help them navigate issues with their account. 

Note: You will get yelled at or thrown large amounts of snarkiness on mostly daily basis. People like money, I get that... but often times, people seem to forget that they are talking to a real person on the other line. Learn to breathe in deep before applying. People fail to understand that government organizations are slow and 'shooting the messenger' will not fix things unless all boxes are checked. This isn't Starbucks.  If a member didn't fill their paperwork out correctly, we send another one out to them...possibly months later. Yelling won't help them. We're slow. You'll be poke at the other departments, but you will have little control of processing speed unless we messed something up really bad. Don't worry, they'll yell at you for that also. 

It seems like good pay to help people out on the phone all day, but it turns out, it doesn't feel like it pays well enough to be a punching bag, especially one with absent management who rarely helps when things get tough. It's easy to burn out here. I come home daily and I am ready to go straight to bed. My personal productivity in my life plummeted. I stopped going to the gym. My weekends are the most sacred of time.  You may think you don't take home any work at the end of the day, but being unloaded onto all day will take its toll. 

Occasionally you'll get a call where you can actually help the member (and they'll have something that actually needs to be remedied) and it's great! The most enjoyable part of TRS is truly helping the member, but honestly, with all the slow downs in company processes and the increased volume of refunds and retirements every year, you are more likely to be chewed out about the timeline of a payment or something more random, like "why has your online portal been down since 2017" (because its going through some major changes...like, literally everything in our system) or "why doesn't my printer work" (I'm not an IT guy for HP) or  "why can't I access my spouse's account when they aren't around"  (Due to confidentiality...), etc. 

Management mostly treats benefit counselors like children ,who can not be trusted to take a bathroom break, or the enemy, who must know as little about the ins and outs of whats changing in the organization. Don't ask them too many questions about TRS' laws and policies, because they are likely to not know the answer. TRS culture seems pretty positive, but the benefits counselors often feel excluded from it these days. Other counselors who have been here much longer than myself have noticed a large, negative shift with recent (last 2 years) management changes. It's a letdown, because the way they advertise TRS to you during the training/application process seems pretty nice. 

Ultimately, this isn't the worse or toughest  job in Austin by a longshot, but there are better out there. If my long windiness is a sign, I can't say I recommend this job.

Do not work in the Internal Audit Office. TRS is overall a good place to work, but not within the Internal Audit Office. Person in charge of IA has poor people management and communication skills, makes up and believes distorted stories and lies, then behaves and makes outlandish, ridiculous and passive aggressive comments and harsh actions based on those made up lies, which includes wrongfully  terminations, and at times single people out, shames and degrades people in front of the whole team, and makes it a miserable environment to work; this individual is not a good human and should be avoided! There is high turnover in IA which can no longer be blamed on the pandemic or economy or any other invalid reason that this person claims in public board meetings each quarter to the trustees!; it is the person talking!!! The only reason the IA employees that do stay stay is the great State benefits, the pay is good relative to equivalent State jobs, and their families they provide for, or possibly some may fear retaliation if they speak up to HR, so they tolerate it all and don’t say anything!

Management here seems afraid to interact with you unless you’re doing something wrong. There is no cohesiveness between the team because, most likely, they’ll schedule your lunches and breaks at separate times to ensure there’s more phone coverage. Every minute of your time there is monitored and, if you’re more than 2 minutes late, they’ll document that and write a report about it. Management’s communication skills are very poor and don’t really provide you with the constructive criticism you need to grow there. Apart from that, their HR department is severely disorganized and, when it comes to the interview process, won’t even offer you an in-person interview but will, instead, ask you to send them the equivalent of an audition video to answer their questions for you. Not worth your time if you’re hoping to grow professionally and hope for frequent team communication. 

Stable job and people are friendly.  It's a slower pace than the private sector and hard to get things done.  People will tell you to slow down if you work hard since you are making them look bad.  Lots of people who have been there a long time who wouldn't last very long in the private sector.  Lots of talk about culture but their culture is not as great as they think.  Emphasis on tenure at TRS rather than overall investment experience for pay and promotions.  They don't value experience that was not at TRS.  People rewarded for doing what they are told rather than innovating or bringing new ideas.  Lots of meetings, conferences, and lunch and learns, but not a lot of actual professional development.

Working here is a great. Team was very friendly and the environment has always been low stress. You're able to work at a nice pace and you wont get trouble from your manager unless you give them a reason. Everyone is laid back and the benefits are freaking amazing, including your health care premium completely paid for by TRS. Plus, it is so stable as employee salaries are set yearly by the Texas legislature so you never have to worry about getting laid off from economic downturns. Only downside is that the place is low energy and you can kind of get stuck in your position doing the same things so there isn't much room for career growth in my opinion. It seems like everyone here is pretty much cool with that though, there just happy to have their guaranteed pension when they retire.

Lots of cliques; lots of people who horde knowledge and make you grovel to get them to do their job; Dept & Agency management condescending; state benefits keep getting worse; mid-management the worst example of passive-aggressive terror management; Dept & Agency management offer trivial perks that are more akin to Make-A-Wish efforts to make you forget you're in a dead-end job and not a solution to workplace apathy; Dept & Agency management seem to be more concerned about their own careers and being sure to find scape goats than actually finding real solutions to problems.

TRS is a supportive and friendly work environment. Great benefits and a supportive management team create a stable work environment and ample opportunities to learn new skills. I had a great internship but unfortunately was unable to maintain my position. That is the one down side to this organization; most people enjoy their positions and stay so long vacancies can be sparse.

The divisions here are kind of like mini-fiefdoms. IMD typically gets the status, money, and resources. Other divisions can struggle at time for adequate resources. There’s a huge variation in management quality across the agency and sometimes obviously poor management is allowed to stay. In general the current director tries to set a nice vibe and good work life balance. Like everywhere your experience will really depend on your specific manager.

During the summer of 2018 I was hired as an intern for the risk management department. The typical day of work started at 7:00-8:00 am and finished around 4:00-5:00 pm. All departments have different daily tasks, but all include individual and collaborative work. The culture at TRS is amazing. Everyone you encounter will make you feel welcome. Even executives will treat you with the upmost respect.

If you are told what and how to do, you are scooping brains out of your subordinates, to the point of waiting for the call to move forewarned. If a personal opinion is more important than a professional with tangible facts to demonstrate why doing things in one way, Then there are no professionalisms in work is just politics and personal opinion.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Counselor 6 salaries reported	$54,333 per year
Data engineer 8 salaries reported	$99,933 per year
Office assistant 8 salaries reported	$63,983 per year
Processor 7 salaries reported	$56,307 per year
Intern 6 salaries reported	$19.71 per hour

Working at Teacher Retirement System of Texas: Company Overview and Reviews

Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas Ratings

Popular jobs at Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected