Are people stressed at Fidelity? How is leadership?
7 replies (most recent on top)
Absolutely it’s stressful, if you are among the 20% of people that do anything. Management is completely ineffective. The vast majority do nothing, but share their high expectations, with no ability to do anything themselves. Every application at Fid has one or two individual contributors that do all the work. The rest of the team is on a free ride.
Unless you are in a customer facing role, there is no 'business need' to be there for 5 days. Even pre-covid, I was remote most days, managing a team scattered around the country. Everyone in my team is super happy and productive. I have to often remind them to take care of themselves and disconnect. What I do find is that some managers don't have any purpose without the 'face time' and time wasting 'water cooler collaboration meetings'. Trust me, nothing noteworthy ever came out of those 'water cooler' moments. They were bi-----g sessions at best.
Now coming to 'customer facing' roles - not sure how many customers want to face you. I cant remember the last time I walked into a bank. Its a thing of the past..something we need to come to terms with. Evolve or go extinct.
On the IT side, it seems that most should be able to WFH indefinitely. I plan to. Going back to the office would suck, luckily I don't have to worry about it. I consider it the perk keeping me here for now.
I’ve personally been extremely stressed, not with my current workload, but the thought of having to go back to the office again. I have a long commute and barely see my kids if I spend 3 hours/day commuting. Obviously COVID sucks, but WFH has been amazing and I’ve been so much happier. Unfortunately, my manager is the type who will want our group in the office as much as possible, almost entirely for face time. He’s already said he’s planning on 5 days a week because there is a “business need”. I’ve been looking for other roles internally and externally and my managers hard line stance on ending WFH is by far the #1 reason.
Stress level is high for leaders. Individual contributors not bad.
It’s a job and in some cases a high paying job. That being said best company I have ever worked for with great benifts.
Why do you ask?