Politics and Over-OT - Senior Associate State Street Employee Review

1.0
May 1, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It's a decent job to start right after college to get your foot in the door in the financial industry. 3 week vacation starting first year is nice. 2 paid volunteer days is also a plus. You don't need much background knowledge- you will learn quickly from your peers on various Excel and multitasking skills. Younger workforce makes it easier to identify with and communicate with peers.

Cons

Too much OT... be prepared to work 12+ hour days or more depending on the situation, such as internal technology failures causing outages, yearly/ monthly audit, high employee turnover rate, etc. Working from home is not guaranteed; it depends on your manager and is in no way driving the work-life balance that State Street claims to propel. There is also too much offshoring of tasks to teams abroad to save money. Quality of work is decreasing due to difficulty training and communicating to teams long distance. High turnover rate makes it difficult for current employees- if you're still at State Street, be prepared to train new hires on your tasks over and over again. Office politics is not uncommon here. Hard working and smart people don't get promoted. You can be stuck in a position for years or get promoted very quickly- it's all about favoritism. Management demands are not reasonable- requests employees to do certain high level tasks, when either they don't know how to approach the problem or the problem gets blown out of proportion.

Explore other reviews about State Street

5.0
Jun 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

on-boarding was easy, lot of learning opportunities/clients to service, nice co-workers

Cons

sparse work-load allotted, difficult client assignments, strict vps

1.0
May 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Remote work is (rarely) an option, though the approval process is extremely slow and bureaucratic. There are a few well-meaning colleagues who genuinely try to drive positive change before burning out.

Cons

Onboarding and HR processes are severely broken, taking 11 months to approve remote status and failing to prepare basic equipment for day one. The workplace culture is deeply hostile, with anger and yelling functioning as the default communication style across teams. Leadership turnover is rampant, resulting in constant re-organizations, splintered teams, and a total lack of strategic direction. Role clarity is non-existent, forcing employees to invent their own daily tasks while receiving entirely contradictory instructions. Direct management is completely absent; I went seven months without any contact from my boss before being laid off via a three-word instant message and short call.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All