I’m seeing a lot of anti-HBA sentiment on this board. As a leader who has both St Louis and HBA folks on my team, I thought I’d share some insight.
It’s not that great being an HBA. Though there is flexibility, they take a hit on compensation. The merit increases are based on St Louis cost of living. St. Louis is much more affordable than most other metros. So, what that means is HBAs have not seen any real salary increase. Every year, they fall further behind due to their local cost of living.
Not long after Penny started, I noticed the pay transparency information (range of pay) for BOAs was removed from their individual job details page. Yet, another thing taken away to make you feel lost and unsure of how you were doing as an associate.
Then it was the anonymous suggestion page taken away...just one thing after another. The writing has been on the wall for a while now.
I am HBA and I will take a paycut to stay HBA. IDGAF.
@10s that’s the policy for the entire firm not just HBA. If you’re at midpoint or higher your raise adjusts, you need a promotion to offset that. That’s pretty much true of any place. We need to stick to the facts is my point to OP. The facts alone are damning enough without adding in conjecture.
@zf you can search Jones Link to see the official policy is to offer more money at hire to those in high cost of living areas, still within the grade level pay band, but then to give them lower than average annual salary increases if they are above the midpoint or higher up in the pay band. That's the official policy around cost of living adjustments, though your manager can make a case for you at bonus time for a higher (putting you at average) salary increase.
So you'll be brought in with higher pay but the lower annual raises make it harder to keep up with inflation unless your manager makes an exception.
Im sorry but this is blatant falsehood. Im HBA and have gotten a number of raises and around the max available. Ive also received promotions with a healthy increase in salary. HBA does not work like that. Im not happy with the changes going on either but don’t go spreading factually incorrect information.
@ab Companies preach loyalty because they know they can get away with paying long term associates less than bringing in a new hire. During my career the only things that have gotten my bottom line anywhere is getting laid off. I take the severance and walk into a new position a few months later with at least a 30 percent pay raise. Going above and beyond never pays off. Politics pays off more in this business. I’m not comfortable playing that game so I now just leave and go somewhere else to bump my pay. It’s not the way I was raised but these companies give you no other choice. Once you realize this you feel so less frustrated trying to achieve something that management was never going to give you in the first place. It took me a long time to figure this out. EJ says they are different because of their culture, but they are just about run of the mill company like everyone else. Nothing special. G ok to work, do your job, go home and stop stressing about the dump. It will be there tomorrow. Penny says she is different, but she is just another talking head fraudster. If she can sell you a bottle of snake oil she will and do it with a smile. Do not trust her. She is incompetent. She can’t even flip a coin correctly. Even after lecturing America about how much she prepared and trained for that moment and how we should too to meet our goals. I have been at some companies. They are all the same. But, EJ takes the cake when it comes to internal marketing about their “culture” in order to retain cheap labor. Do what is best for you and your family. EJ will carry on with or without you.
@ct this type of environment exists in HO too. This culture that they try to sell is fake. I feel liberated knowing I don’t have to deal with these fakers
Not accurate. My comp and others were competitive with other major cities. Otherwise we would not have accepted the job at Stl level.
@OP this is not true. Being a hiring leader, we hired people in at the rate of their city. They did not get St Louis pay
@ct Edward Jones now bases pay and promotions off of conformance instead of performance. The results are unfortunately being shown every day. But hey, at least PP can afford another ugly AF outfit
For years I stayed in an office as a BOA. The office had a lot of FA turnover, so the new FAs coming in had production levels below a level 2 or so. I was never promoted to a Sr BOA because of this, even though the FA turnover had nothing to do with me.
At the same time, BOAs coming in to a higher FA level office, after 3 years, were promoted to Sr BOA with the raise that accompanies it (not to mention bonuses). It was so embarrassing for me because I had been there 4, 5, 6, 7 etc years longer but less tenured BOAs were above me. One company match for my bonus was under $20. Embarrassing!
I was loyal to the company and clients. I wanted to stay for them and helped provide consistency with the office. Many clients told me how much they appreciated that fact. I actually thought EJ would appreciate it .... but I was wrong.
Anyway, for YEARS I went without any proper raise. One BOA I spoke to had been in an office for 17 years before she was promoted to a Sr BOA because of FA turnover in her office. Definitely nothing to do with her, just everything was tied to the FA.
It was very unfair but thats the way it was even though we all did the same job, held to the same training requirements, evaluated the same, etc.
Luckily, this unfair practice has finally been remedied and BOAs aren't punished because of the status or level of the FA.
I always marveled how the company got away with it and not sued. I digress.
It's fixed now, but now....offices are merging and older and tenured BOAs on their way out, especially if they aren't in "the cliques" or favored because they don't play the politics, that seem to permeate every region.
It's like everything else in todays's society, if you give honest feedback or have different ideas (other than the echo chamber someone needs for their egos), you aren't going to be around long.
With time, if this behavior and wrongful terminations are not corrected - from the top down -and, a company does not encourage innovation and new ideas and instead relies on echo chambers due to a need for narcissistic validation, it will continue to deteriorate.
I believe that might be where EJ is headed with our current leadership. Time will tell.
@a1 This. All EJ associates have been hurt by years of inadequate raises to keep up with inflation. Loyalty has been taken advantage of. Labor keeps getting cheaper for PP while she benefits from record profit.
Agree, mostly. With that said, those outside STL can and do get higher raises if their leaders go for it. They know where their folks live so they adjust accordingly. The problem is both STL and other areas do not get raises that exceed, let alone keep up with inflation.