Shut It Down - Anonymous employee Hightower Advisors Employee Review

1.0
21 Nov 2019
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people you're working with at the lower levels are all incredibly hardworking and dedicated. Solid, good people.

Cons

Literally everything else. 1. Management is so deeply disconnected from their teams they think tossing a happy hour on the calendar is equivalent to year-round support and proper compensation and work-life balance. That's basically what your happiness is worth to them, an afternoon offsite with no purpose that they aren't even personally paying for, once or twice a year. Take that money and get me up to a median base salary instead. 2. Management would rather hire someone Director level and above for you to train rather than actually finding out what your job is and giving you someone on the ground level to help take some of your load of. Less support, more work. Bonus points if that person quits within 6 months and you get to do it again. 3. Speaking of your job, it's taken a decade for job descriptions to even be determined as necessary. AKA if something needs to get done, you're just going to handle it. Forever. 4. Once you're handling all these jobs (lots of one-offs) you can never take a sick day or a vacation because you're the only person at the company aware of it/aware of how to do it since there is no cross-training happening. Not even your manager knows how to handle your daily tasks, so if you're out of the office you have to handle it all if/when you come back. 5. Despite all this responsibility (generally much more than your pay grade should allow) your manager likely doesn't find you capable of growing into a better role. There are managers who have taken zero time to learn about your daily responsibility, yet make the judgement that you're not working as hard/well as you need to be to excel. The irony is, of course, that you wouldn't know how to because you're working 10 hour days and you have absolutely no goals or parameters for excelling even if you had time to.

Explore other reviews about Hightower Advisors

5.0
3 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The culture here is incredible

Cons

There are a lot of changes constantly

1.0
30 Jan 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A handful of genuinely good people who try to do the right thing and support their teammates. The work can be interesting at times, and you can learn a lot if you’re proactive.

Cons

The culture here used to be one of the best parts of the job, but over the last two years it’s pretty much disappeared. Leadership keeps pushing more in-office time, and the reasoning given in all-hands meetings feels disconnected from reality. It comes off as out of touch, and things like “bagels in the office” are honestly more insulting than motivating. The team dynamic has also changed for the worse. It doesn’t feel like people are working together anymore. A lot of folks are just trying to protect themselves and avoid blame rather than collaborate, which creates a stressful and political environment. Larry in particular is seen by many as elitist and overly intense. The expectation seems to be that people should just grind until they burn out or leave. There’s very little concern for sustainability or long-term morale, and turnover feels accepted rather than addressed. On top of that, the private equity ownership creates constant anxiety. It feels like they’re more interested in being the first to sell than in being the best company. If an exit opportunity comes up, it’s hard to believe the company wouldn’t be gutted. Layoffs feel likely at some point, especially given how often management relationships with firms like Goldman Sachs are brought up.

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