Worst Job I've ever had. - Retirement Representative Empower Employee Review

1.0
22 Sept 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The pay and the benefits are decent, but they're not enough to make up for the job itself.

Cons

You're constantly put in no-win situations and there's an extreme feeling of authoritarianism. You're not allowed to pee on company time lest it hurt your "adherence." You're not allowed to say you "can't" do something that you literally can't do either because the system is down or because you're not allowed to do it. You'll be told conflicting things all the time and your performance will be hurt by acting on whatever you were most recently told, even if you were told that thing on the call itself. Your performance will be hurt if you're on hold for too long or if your call takes too long, even though all through training, you're told that it doesn't matter how long the call is because they want you to be thorough to prevent the person from calling back (it's a lie, they want you to practically hang up on people during the "goodbye" to shorten your time) The people in training will act like you can come to them with any question in the world, then will turn around and treat you like a complete idiot "well what do you think the answer to your question is?" if you ask them. But then they'll tell you that you never want to guess because it hurts performance if you give wrong information-- which is fine and I agree you don't want to give people bad info-- but don't tell new employees "never guess, just check with us," then turn around and treat them like a dummy for doing just that. There is ZERO downtime on the job and the constant barrage of people is mentally exhausting-- and if you make a mistake or try to make time to actually look at your reviews to see how to improve, you're also out of adherence. They won't actually say you're expected to read your emails or look at your reviews or do your online training on your own time, but they clearly want you to because they're not going to allow you to do it on theirs. The culture is super fake. When I left, my manager texted me saying that he'd be oh so willing to help me professionally and write me a letter of recommendation, I accepted the offer, then he said "well I can't do a professional one due to company policy, do you want a private one?" And I said sure... Then he ghosted me. I wouldn't have even thought of this as a negative if the offer wasn't made in the first place, but it just goes to show that they only care about the appearance of being nice without the follow through of actually doing anything nice. Speaking of fake, the interview process was also super fake. They ask you what you're looking for in a company culture or work environment and they'll just say "oh we're like that!" Like I said I valued flexibility, and they were like "we're so flexible!" (They're not). And I said I wanted a dynamic role where I wasn't boxed into doing one singular task and I could wear many hats. They said "that's great we love that" (the job was be a phone slave, and I wasn't allowed to do any other tasks). If you value work-life balanced, be prepared for every second of your day to be mentally at work. Even your breaks will be dominated by the fear of coming back from it late. They also will tell you the 11am-8pm schedule is only 12-18 months if you want to move to first shift, but I talked to a lot of reps there who had been on the 2nd shift schedule for several years and were trying to move. Your mental health will totally spiral in this job. You will dread clocking in and you'll probably dread leaving too (because you'll be worried about money, insurance, etc) but the day you finally do, you'll just be filled with relief. People think dealing with Karens is the worst part of a customer service job, but honestly dealing with irate people is one of the LEAST stressful parts of this job because the "everything else" about it is terrible. I left several months ago, so this isn't even my "just quit and I'm angry" review, it's just me looking back and thinking "wow that WAS terrible!"

avatar
Empower Response
5y
Thank you for your feedback. We regret that you had a negative employment experience. Our company culture is something we take pride in; we are constantly striving to improve our associate experience so we can best serve our customers. We invest in training to set associates and leaders up for success and encourage all associates to speak up and provide feedback if they are not receiving the support and training they need to be successful. Our call center is critically important, not only in how we represent ourselves to our customers, but also as a place for associates to gain knowledge and skills related to our business that they can continue to use as they build their career with Empower.

Explore other reviews about Empower

5.0
20 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great place to work, lots of growth opportunity

Cons

None right now, the pace of change can be challenging to some

5.0
11 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Many smart people genuinely want to grow & succeed; An excellent long term strategic vision backed by long term oriented investors; Ample growth opportunities at a business that is very well positioned for long term growth. Leaders that genuinely care about their people. Remote work is truly an advantage - just the lack of a commute makes a large difference. Opportunity to be at the ground level of a company that will develop a much stronger national brand over the next decade.

Cons

Delivery & Execution are areas that are truly challenging in the high growth/evolutionary environment that Empower is in today. Cultural changes are happening within the business that create some competing priorities, though Sr. Leaders continue to lead through this. Working with people across the US means don't expect a normal schedule - early / late starts and working lunches are the norm.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All