Way Understaffed, Stressful Environment - Operations Representative Cetera Financial Group Employee Review

Overall, I've had a very positive experience. One of the biggest strengths has been the people. I've had the opportunity to work with a great team and strong leadership, and everyone has been supportive, collaborative, and approachable. I appreciate the positive culture and the willingness of colleagues to help one another and share knowledge. I also value the work-life balance, which have helped create a healthy and productive work environment. The team fosters open communication, and I've enjoyed the variety of work and the opportunity to learn from different people and perspectives. Overall, it's been a great place to work, and I've genuinely enjoyed being part of the team.

* Greater visibility into long-term career development and advancement opportunities would be valuable. Establishing more structured career development programs and mentorship opportunities could help employees better understand potential growth paths and support their long-term development. * While there have been noticeable improvements, having more in-office activities and opportunities for collaboration and connection for employees who come into the office could make the experience more engaging and further strengthen team culture and employee engagement.

As with most larger size companies there are some genuinely great people that work here but there are also many who are just here for a paycheck. It pays to make friends and internal connections with subject matter experts. There are always new projects starting up and changes seem to be constant, so depending on timing and business segment, advancement can happen quickly. The pay and benefits are OK-decent, but could be better. While there’s change in some areas, others can be stable and very easy to get comfortable with, always work to be done! This can be a good thing for those craving consistency and stability but bad for those looking for something challenging, personal growth and/or advancement opportunities. Hybrid work environment for most roles but must be in office at least 2-3x weekly, and this is tracked.

Change is constant and training/support aren’t always available. Many acquisitions have led to culture and policy clashes or conflicting info/processes. Many people are overworked and burnout can and does occur. It can take forever for resolutions to come around as most internal systems and programs are outdated. Support is outsourced to third parties and require service tickets to be opened. Updates are also vendor dependent, so things take forever to get fixed, or require annoying long term workarounds. Pay and benefits are OK, but could be better. Advancement opps can also vary across business segments and there’s a lot of promotions based on favoritism or nepotism rather than merit/experience. Lots of little perks like free sodas, snacks, Nespresso machines and such disappeared. Team or department lunches and outings are far and few between. Holiday party went way downhill, although it seems like they might be trying to improve it more recently.