Vantaggi
Cetera is a relatively large company with locations across the country, so while I cannot speak to every nook and cranny of the organization, I can say that in my more than ten years here (including its prior incarnations), everyone I have worked with, from the rank-and-file to execs, has been nice, easy to get along with, and supportive of everyone's success. Within my own department, we have an extremely close-knit team where everyone helps each other out. Both of the managers I have had since I started have genuinely cared for their teams welfare and happiness both in and outside of work. It is a very supportive and friendly work environment (we laugh a lot) with great work-life balance. As long as you are getting your work done and are reasonable with your requests, getting to kids' school activities or that last minute midday doc appointment is not an issue. PTO is very generous as well: you start at 4 weeks (plus the 9 NYSE holidays) and go up from there. With relatively few exceptions, you can walk out the door at 5:00, and alternative schedules are not uncommon--generally you just have to work it out with your manager. The company and industry have gone through a lot of changes over the years (not always a good thing--see cons), but now that the company is under new ownership and has a new CEO, it is aggressively pursuing its agenda of creating new and innovative solutions that make delivering and accessing financial advice easier and more cost efficient. That means its all hands on deck to help find ways to be smarter, faster, more efficient, and in general just do things better. So no not a place for slackers, but if you are excited by the idea of getting to wear more than one hat during the workday, can think from more than one viewpoint and make meaningful contributions, this might be a great place for you.
Svantaggi
About those changes--the company has gone through a few owners over the years, and while that has generally not been a problem--really, the norm in financial services: same company, new logo--the last parent company was something of a gallery of rogues and went belly up. Cetera is under new ownership and has a new CEO, but as you can imagine the dealings with the previous owners have created unnecessary challenges we are just now clearing the shadows of. Ugh. Robert Moore (current CEO) seems to be doing his best to make up for lost time and has lined up a vision for how to not only make the company better but be a force for change in the industry, so there's a startup feel around here--but the rubber is just now hitting the road and can't happen quickly enough. Morale went through the wringer for a bit, in part also because of major changes in the industry that were a real challenge to deal with, but now that key projects are seeing daylight there is a sense of accomplishment--maybe a little survivor's euphoria--and Cetera is building itself into its new form. Hopefully that momentum will continue. People (like me) tend to stay here for a while, so moving up the ladder can be a slow process, though that varies by department. Some people have more luck moving between departments. Bringing back the employee engagement activities, getting the execs physically in front of the rank and file more, and having an easier volunteer policy (you get a paid day to volunteer, but man, good luck trying to jump through the hoops to use it) would also be welcome. I would complain about the cubicles at my location--they are a lovely beige and older than half the employees--but they are built like a bomb shelter and afford lots of privacy and sound absorption, so they are a pro or a con depending on the day...