This company has an uncomfortably cult like environment. Everyone has to put on an air of completely loving Fidelity and loving their job like they are brainwashed robots; if you don't play along, you will have problems. If you want to reveal your true feelings about the job, or you have something remotely negative to say, think carefully about who to confide in. It's actually pretty vital to be over the top pro-Fidelity if you want any chance of transferring around or getting a promotion one day. However, plenty of people still don't get to move around or get the promotions that they deserve because they don't act brainwashed enough and/or they're so good that they are kept trapped in the call center forever. Some managers have all but lost their call center skills and they basically serve as cheerleader coaches. They might "coach" you on what to say, but rarely will get on the phone themselves and have lost touch with what the job entails.
In the call center you are micro-managed severely. Co-workers and managers will sit down with you and pick apart your calls word for word. You'll be invited to pick apart other calls as well. Every second on the job is recorded and timed. If your call extends into your lunch break or you have to take an extra bathroom break, you'll be out of adherence which you will be reprimanded for and which will affect your next bonus. Your bonus is completely up to your manager's discretion, by the way, which has quite a few implications. Your team will compete with other teams to have the best stats and you will receive judgment for yours, even though most of it seems nonsensical and/or out of your control.
Orientation frames the job as pretty great. You have a blast with your new co-workers and are spoiled with fun activities and long lunches. But once you are out on the floor and the novelty has worn off, you see the job is more about statistics than anything else. Customer service is heavily emphasized in conversation, yet all that really counts is call lengths, schedule adherence, how much your manager likes you, being fanatically pro-Fidelity, and being subjected to constant and excessive micro-managing and taking it all with a smile and nod.
It's hard not to even have the support of your co-workers. The gossiping is incredible. For some, this place is really their life's career and they will never leave, so you must be careful about what you say about the company and you have to navigate the strange drama of people who have worked there for years. There are also so many people in the call center that you will regularly have other people's mistakes dumped on to you via a livid customer and/or will find that co-workers don't care to take a transfer or help you during a difficult call. Burnout here tends to make people curt and apathetic toward each other, which is no fun when you have a customer on the line and a manager who's constantly looking to find fault in your actions. I constantly felt stranded.
I should mention that the job itself of answering calls is not easy. In short, there is an entire book behind every retirement plan. You have customers throwing all sorts of crazy and complex questions at you while you have to stall for time while browsing an extensive encyclopedia of information. You will find that your resources are incomplete, confusing, way too elaborate, and/or misleading on a regular basis, which renders a lot of stressful and difficult calls. Have I mentioned all the abuse you have to swallow from customers? They are way worse than customers face-to-face. Some days you feel like you are being attacked on all sides.
Although everyone has to act like Fidelity is utterly amazing, give it enough time and you'll see what's really going on - the nonsensical promotions, people becoming trapped in the call center - denied every opportunity to take a new position, and unable to leave the company because they have no transferable skills - people's relief to get off the phones whenever allowed, the apathy, etc. it's depressing. It's the unhappiest work environment for a customer service job because you have to act completely fake all the time with everyone you work with and every single thing you say and do is watched and usually ripped apart by co-workers and managers. I had a lot of awful days on this job and was so happy to get ou.
I guess this place is okay if you have no other options and/or you like being micro-managed in a corporate cult. Otherwise steer clear.
