Incompetent Management - Sales CI Financial Employee Review

Management is less than inspiring and has proved to be incapable of listening to feedback from employees. The acquisition of Sentry Investments in 2017 has been a failure on multiple levels. An overwhelming majority of existing sales staff have walked away since joining. Culture at CI feels much less competitive than other firms, while nepotism is alive and well. The "integration with CI" has left previously loyal clients wondering why certain product lines have been unsupported and neglected. Compensation is easily the worst on the street. Variable pay structure for sales would be laughable if it wasn't such a large part of overall pay. There's little to no transparency on how bonuses are paid. When it comes time to be paid, they'll try and back out. Expect to make about half of what the competition is paying. Too many new and existing strategic partnerships make for a bloated product lineup that doesn't align with their client's values or priorities in the current market environment. Various legacy pricing programs make buying and selling funds a complicated, administrative nightmare. A major overhaul is necessary in this area to make it easier to do business. Support from Client Services is not what it once was. Turnover is high and the department is understaffed as a whole. Without proper processes in place, the sales teams are not efficient. Advisors being misinformed and acting on incorrect information has hurt the reputation of the firm. Accountability is something left to be desired. Technology also seems to be a major problem. CI has failed to provide their employees with reliable tools to do the job. Phones and computers go down on a regular basis. IT is so overwhelmed with ongoing issues that staff are left to wait on hold for hours to get their attention. Dealing with other departments like HR or Compliance is a total nightmare. For such a large organization, it's shocking to witness firsthand how they continue to operate in such an unprofessional manner. It's no surprise they're having difficulties hiring new talent. The growth by acquisition strategy, which might have worked for CI in the past, has led to a frustrated and suffering sales organization. This is evident in their stock price. Analysts look no further. There's a lot of good reasons the stock price has tanked. Redemptions are at an all time high and net sales will remain negative until leadership can be replaced with those that have a better grasp of reality. Stay away at all costs.