Northern Trust - Very poor reputation?

Mango Joe

Hi There,

Asking for a friend who was thinking of applying for a job.

Made some enquiries and the word back from multiple sources was fairly grim.

Poor pay, seemingly very poor for sector.
Long/Extra hours (unpaid).
Unreasonable, ruthless and manipulative Management.
University Students on placement swearing they'd never, ever return it a fit.

Friend has kind of lost all interest for the moment as there wasn't ANY good news coming back....

Would appreciate opinions and maybe more balance from you good folk.

Thanks

Joe

callaway92

Surprised by this.

I did my college placement there and then went back after I graduated too (finished there now due to better opportunities, nothing against the company).

What role was your friend in? It must have been Fund Accounting? If so, it’s the same opinion I get from anyone working in that job anywhere.

Hours - you get time and a half for overtime. Working bank hols you get double pay and a day in lieu.

Pay is good but it prob depends what team you are in. They also pay your health insurance and pay for pretty much unlimited sick days for the year.

SparrowHawk

I've heard some real horror stories from several people who worked in the Dublin office (appreciate you're asking about Limerick). My observations were that the really bad experiences were across multiple departments with multiple managers. It seemed to be a trend that the managers either did not, or could not manage their staff,or their own managers. People were worked into the ground with no appreciation or thanks.
Limerick may be different, or the same. If your friend needs a job short term, maybe otherwise I would steer clear of the company.

The Moldy Gowl

Worked as a grad there for a year.

Good experience and good management and learned loads.

Management only ruthless if you keep making stupid mistakes because it wastes both yer time having to redo something you should have spotted.

Long hours is because you messed something up and it needs to be redone or you want to finish whatever tasks you have to do.

The Moldy Gowl

SparrowHawk wrote: »

I've heard some real horror stories from several people who worked in the Dublin office (appreciate you're asking about Limerick). My observations were that the really bad experiences were across multiple departments with multiple managers. It seemed to be a trend that the managers either did not, or could not manage their staff,or their own managers. People were worked into the ground with no appreciation or thanks.
Limerick may be different, or the same. If your friend needs a job short term, maybe otherwise I would steer clear of the company.

In fairness, that's the same for every big finance company or any company in general. Don't think it's nt specific.

I don't work there anymore and been to big and small company's doing the same work as nt.
In my experience they are well run.

Mango Joe

Thanks all - Hmmmm a bit more perspective there.

Anyone know the typical benefits package on offer to a new hire?

Holiday allowance starting out and when increased.
Healthcare (are dependents included?)
Flexible hours (!?)
Working from home.
Canteen subsidised properly (ie not €7-8 for dinner)

Cheers.

The Moldy Gowl

22k
23 days
Healthcare. Prob basic.
Canteen is reasonable prices. Not subsidised, no reason to be.
Pay rise of 1k after 12 months.
No flexible hours, you are on deadlines to get the fund out by 3pm or 4pm or whatever it. You can't waltz in at 10 am. You leave when you have your daily fund done and out, if it's late, so are you. But lateness is 90% your fault

No working from home unless you were senior mgmt, working from home isn't a thing for fund accounting unless you have dual screens. Depending on the software they use, you wouldn't be able to anyway. You also need the Bloomberg terminal for prices. Just not feasable.



Wages are low because they know they are next to ul and take in grads. If he wants decent money, move to Dublin.

The Moldy Gowl

You also need to take all those horror stories with a big pinch of salt.
You can swap companies names and they are all the same.

Once he gets his head around funds and what goes into them and understands certain parts of it need to be done at a certain he will be fine and chilled out.
It's a steep learning curve but you are better off asking questions rather than trying to spoof

callaway92

The Moldy Gowl wrote: »

22k
23 days
Healthcare. Prob basic.
Canteen is reasonable prices. Not subsidised, no reason to be.
Pay rise of 1k after 12 months.
No flexible hours, you are on deadlines to get the fund out by 3pm or 4pm or whatever it. You can't waltz in at 10 am. You leave when you have your daily fund done and out, if it's late, so are you. But lateness is 90% your fault

No working from home unless you were senior mgmt, working from home isn't a thing for fund accounting unless you have dual screens. Depending on the software they use, you wouldn't be able to anyway. You also need the Bloomberg terminal for prices. Just not feasable.


Wages are low because they know they are next to ul and take in grads. If he wants decent money, move to Dublin.

That’s all team dependent. The OP didn’t say what role he was looking at.

If he said he’s looking at Fund Accounting then apologies

Healthcare is full VHI for one person. None for other family members.

Hols are 23 and go up by a day after 1 year and another day after 2 years.


Pay rises are at the discretion of your manager.

There is an end of year bonus (paid in March) done by your rating out of 5 for the year. Some on my team got about €1300

Working from home is encouraged amongst all roles and there’s 1 mandatory WFH day a year to make sure you have access to it.

Feel free to pm me if you have any more in depth questions.

The Moldy Gowl

callaway92 wrote: »

That’s all team dependent. The OP didn’t say what role he was looking at.

If he said he’s looking at Fund Accounting then apologies

Ah ya. I'm just giving my fund accounting experience.


It can be pressuring at times but once you understand it and ask questions, you're fine.


Unrelated, doing a nav on a laptop is the most frustrating thing I've ever done.

Mango Joe

She's some class of accountant but am not sure of exact job or department she was looking at am afraid.

Someone mentioned moving to Dublin - she's done a couple of years up there and is keen to move back to Limerick now.

Sincere thanks to you all for taking the time to post, ye are very good.

Cheers.

banie01

Fund accounting is acknowledged as being a fairly poor gig everywhere but it is entry level and as time accrues so will pay and benefits.
If she is qualified A/c she is likely looking at financial reporting out there?
My advice would be stay away, very backended process especially at qtr and year end.
So much of the work is dependent on work being completed by other teams and passed on to reporting team that long houra at the end of quarter are a given.