LPL Financial To Lay Off 10% Of Work Force
CNN Money reports, “LPL Financial, an independent broker/dealer, said it will cut 10% of its work force, or approximately 275 employees, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the Dec. 31 filing, LPL said it announced the staff reduction to reduce costs as part of a “comprehensive strategic business review.”
LPL said it notified all employees of the job cuts on Dec. 29 and expects to complete all activities associated with the restructuring by Jan. 31. The company also expects to take a fourth-quarter charge of $12 million related to severance and similar personnel-related expenses, the filing said.”
i work at lpl it was mostly management who was let go of…
it all happened today there were security guards on every floors to make sure no one went postal
[...] LPL Financial Layoffs happened today [updated 1-15-2009] [...]
I worked at LPL for 16 months, leacing this past summer. Not surprised, feel bad for the worker bees who put in some seious hours to line Easter Sterns pockets… guess they won’t go public any time soon… so justice is still at arms lentgh. Over all, the company would do well to eliminate 50-60% of their management, which made the company very inefficient. Their processes and controls will force them out of business if they do not change their ways. As an investor I would never put my trust in LPL back-end systems… trust me… I worked on the,
Just to respond to the comment by JJ, they actually did eliminate a lot of management. If you were to count 10 people laid off probably 6 or 7 were management positions. I believe most the worker bees were spared this time aroound. But I don’t know what to expect if there is another round.
I worked at LPL for 6 years. Most of the upper level and mid level managers are idiots. The phrase “it’s not what you know but who you know” certainly applies to the hiring and promoting practices at LPL. If your advisor is affiliated with LPL it would be wise to move your money to another company. When LPL does go under, LPL clients will go through hell in getting their assets back.
Yes I got the ax too. It was not based on performance, industry knowledge, tenure or anything else. Basically they staretd cutting dept heads and if you worked with them at any mgmt level you too were gone. There are tons of incompetent people left now running the company. Several of my spared co-workers at AVP didn’t know what IRA stood for . . .
I also agree, it’s who you know and if they liked you. Heavily female dominated, and sorority style leadership (whoever gets the most hugs wins) Some of the best minds there were let go and this will be the begiining of the end for LPL.
I worked there a year and a half too long and worked many long hours thinking I’d be rewared. What happen? After upgrading their systems I was replaced with H-1B’s. The project manager was actually sneaking into my office and into my dev machines to get copies of my code in the after hours the week I was laidoff — that’s the “professionalism” that exists there.
I was a VP with a ton of experience. With no warning after a near perfect performance review, I was given the boot. No idea why I was chosen over others and was not given any facts surrounding the decision.
I would sell my soul to the devil if he would guarantee the demise of LPL.
If I live to see the day that LPL fails I will die a happy man.
I worked at LPL for 2 years. I figured they would choose the employess who have been there the least. Unfortunatly that wasn’t the case. I can say that I am thankful for the pay and severence. Everything Happens for a reason!
What did they base it on then?
I went in the morning of the layoffs having already heard from home about the widespread panic. Knowing that the panic stricken/unable to cope with crisis, individuals, were the last ones that needed to worry at a firm like LPL, I made a comment that I was at a stage in my dealings with the firm that if they decided to list me amongst the ranks, I’d walk out happily. I now look at things from a standpoint of total relief - that I’m not going to be among the people that are there in 10 years with no pay increases or other acknowledgement - and as they think back on their careers, realize that because they got comfortable there, they actually just rotted away there. And a lot of people that had been with the company since it was just a few dozen were on that chopping block - so even those that weren’t cut can continue on rest assured, that if the chips were down their backs wouldn’t be covered either.
Ok I dare to post this blog with my name due to the fact that I don’t want speculation that I may have left some of these messages that I am reading–I just want my message to be clear. I understand the sentiments shared from everyone. I was at LPL almost 15 years - I lived and breathed my job. Although I am still shocked that I was one of the casualities of this market, trying to figure out ‘why me’ or ‘how could they’ will do me no good and is wasted energy. The only thing I will say is that I am sad for the department and staff and friends I left behind and worry about how things will get done now - this is only natural after all… It was a big part of my life for many years and of course I still care. That being said, these changes have been made and it is time to move on and move forward. Change can be good. Things really do happen for a reason and we will all end up working where we are meant to. A friend of mine told me “you’re new job is looking for a job”. That is what I am focusing on - moving forward. I understand people need to vent and grieve but don’t take too long. Use this time to figure out what you want to do and try to make it happen. Focus on turning this around and into a positive for yourself. !!
No one else could have said it better! Way to have a positive outlook on the situation! Wish you all the best of luck!
I worked at LPL for over 7 years. When i started there were under 100 people in the company. I watched it grow to over 1000. All i can say is I’m shocked.
BTW .. I left years ago.
Shocked and saddened. A lot of good people lost their jobs and my prayers go out to them and their families in these difficult economic times.
You can’t blame LPL. The economy is in shambles so what else can they do?
What has happened to our country?
To BC: Best of luck to you.
You people need to look at what LPL gave you comapared to a lot of other companies that didn’t give out anything but an empty box to pack your stuff in. It does suck to laid off because it happened to me after working for five years at a company and i didn’t get no paid 60 days and or a severence.
You have job security at LPL if you meet one of the following criteria:
1) You are a top brass monkey’s ass?
2) You are dumber than a goat and blindly do what you are told
3) You make less than $30,000/yr
If I live to see the day that LPL fails I will die a happy man.
I still work at LPL.
BranchNet has a infinite loop error that was never fixed. It is a ticking timb bomb and there are too many idiots in the company to understand whats going on… Their software is outdated and quite unreliable. The cannot go public because the accounting is off. There are examples of client A and client B having their dividends switched for years.
The SQL Server code to BranchNet does not present an abstract variable for a transaction but an integer. When SQL Server enters a Race condition it causes an infinite loop. IE: BranchNet failures in August 2007 were never fixed.
Everybody I work with is a complete idiot and ruthless. They use your ideas for their own ground and report it as their own. I’m only here until my Employer 401K Match is up then I’m quitting. The one good thing about this company is you learn how NOT to run a business. You see all the bad back-end examples possible that now you know what to look for anywhere. There is a reason LPL gets fined all the time and hacked. Their technology is from the 90’s.
to Lucky: LPL didn’t give anything beyond 1 month to most. the 60 days notice is MANDATED by law. And since LPL is the only game in town, many who relocated for the job are now out of luck, and are no doubt under water on a house purchase. LPL doubled their employee count in a year VERY unresponsibly and now have left hundreds of families in a lurch at the worst possible time.
to Dirk: You can blame LPL when the reasons behind who got cut were never explained or were flat out lies. It was no doubt a popularity contest.
to AB: add a minority, gay/lesbian, or female
to Annonymous: there’s no 401k match anymore . . . you also learn mgmt styles that are completely contrary to best practices
To the moderator: Why were the top brass monkey asses’ name deleted? Oh well, we know who they are.
To anon: About 1 in 5 accounts have major accounting mistakes of at least $5000. Whenever I came across one of these mistakes and pointed it out to a supervisor I was told to correct the mistake. Why did I have to fix it? LPL’s logic was that I found the mistake so it was my responsibility. Wouldn’t it have been better for the person who made the mistake to correct the mistake so that it wouldn’t happen again? Eventually I had to just overlook these accounting errors because I would get written up for not completing my mindless daily drivel.
Email to me from an LPL customer service rep: This mistake must be fixed immediately as there is market risk in treasury bills!!! Idiots abound at this place. Lucky for LPL that the clients don’t know how stupid most LPL employees are.
If I live to see the day that LPL fails I will die a happy man.
Riddle me this?
What works 6-7 hours a day, has half a brain, is on probation, and can’t do a simple advisor phone call without their hand being held? Answer-a current LPL employee.
What works 11-12 hours per day, gets exceptional reviews, has a full brain and can carry on escalated calls with advisors flying solo? Answer-a laid off LPL employee.
Not bitter, actually relieved. Now I can work for a company that actually cares about and values hard work.
LPL sucks. We all know that. I worked at LPL and as soon as I came out of training, I knew it sucked. My manager was dumb, my director was dumber, my AVP was the dumbest, and so on and so on and so forth. Let’s not talk about Human Resources. What company do you know where the HR Generalist is really an Administrative Assistant and the VP of HR does the work of the Generalist??? If it is dumb, makes no sense and is a SEC violation, it is policy and procedure at LPL.
I always hate to hear about people losing their jobs, but as an ex lpl employee I know the grass is greener on the other side. If you didn’t feel like you were compensated enough, had growth opportunities, and felt like many of your co-workers and management didn’t know anything then you should be glad that you were let go and they will pay you for 30 days.
Life is too short and there is always opportunity out there. Best thing that I took away was all the contacts within the industry of mutual fund, annuity, & insurance carriers. Because of those, I feel like many different carriers would welcome me as their employee. Best of luck to those in search of a new venture.
LPL is a good company, they did what they had to do.
I agree that overall they are a good company. Just like every other in the industry you either fit into the culture or you don’t. From what I hear they hired way too many employees over the last 4-5 years and I would think they still might need to cut 300-500 more if things continue to get worse.
Are the advisors happy? Have many of them left? Also, hasn’t LPL been saying they are going public “soon” for the last 10yrs. I wouldn’t hold out for that.
You guys are just pissed because you worked your asses off for nothing.
I am a lazy no good slacker and was able to keep my job w00t!
I heard that people got laid off. The names were surprising. Basically all the smart people that did a good job got laid off. There are not a lot of talented people there left. Advisors are going to get crappy service and this is the beginning of the end.
LPL RULEZ!
all in all, this company is whatever. i just wish i had a say on who got to leave and who stayed. i would have left (on my own accord) but would have taken many incompetent, self righteous folks with me. its not about who you know its all about how much you brown nose and how much you look like you are trying round here. dont get mad at me cause my C effort is your A! if you cant do the job as good as me when i barely try… sorry. dont throw rocks at the throne. its disappointing cause you shouldnt have to brown nose to get anywhere but it seems like LPL THE GREATEST MICROMANAGER IN THE WORLD (only in the service center i hear), from my understanding… only brown nosing gets you attention and promotion with NO pay increase. go figure. im here now but soon… i wont be. thank the system the folks that got laid off got paid. lucky bastards. anyone wanna switch positions?
The one thing I found funny was the amount of people who got laid off who did not want to lose their jobs. I would have gladly volunteered and taken the package if that was an option. But it wasn’t. Why? Because they would have lost a lot of hard-working, under paid, and under appreciated employees.
A lot of the changes they make in culture are phantom changes. They are there to make you think that the company is responging to employee concerns/complaints, but they really are not. Take the tuition reimbursement program, which was an absolute joke. Ditto the new Employee review process - waste of time.
When it comes down to to it, LPL is pretty much like working with the rest of corporate America. Oh and the only people left in my department from when I started are the Director and VP. Turnover of about 15 people.
Okay you whiners, get a grip and get over it. There is no such thing as loyalty in corporate america, so if that is what you are looking for then you will be continually disappointed wheverever you go. LPL did their part….they gave you a paycheck…everything else was gravy. If you chose to stay in an environment where you were unhappy that”s on you.
Don’t get me wrong,, my heart goes out to the ones who lost their jobs, some of whom I knew personally. But you can’t go around with all this hate. As someone who has been laid off several times…both with and without severance, i do understand the fruistration…but you wouldn’t want this coming out in your next interview.
For those of us still here, be careful.. Especially if you are using lpl’s computer to make your comments. What goes around, comes around and you could be in the next round of laysoffs.
For the record, there are still plenty of knowledgeable people in lpl who do not kiss ass…we were just lucky this time around.
I too was one that was laid off from LPL and have been in the financial industry for 20 years. Its good to see those that were let go able to express their grief here on this blog. But to those that do have a job, get your head out of your asses. LPL has its quirks but what company dosent. This is a global recession, everyone is tight strapped for cash and families are barely making it to survive. Whatever your salary range is be happy you have a Job. Its not prison and you can obviously find another line of work. To those that feel like someone owes you something, look in the mirror, whatdo you owe yourselves. Why work somewhere that you do not like. mediocre habits will only get you mediocre results. This is not the first time and will not be the last the industry will have to lay off ppl in order to stay afloat. Tenureship or not. For those that volunteer to stop working. Here give me your badge I will work for you.
Be grateful.
Which department got hit the hardest?
Some people that posted on here need to get over it and themselves. Some of you say the company is comprised of morons and incompetent people. You just happened to be the most incompetent/overpaid and had to go. Don’t take it out on the rest of the company who are hardworking individuals. Everyone I know there has a college education and many are Series 7 licensed. I don’t think a incompetent idiot could attain those, do you? Get over yourselves, your A’s got canned for a reason and the reason was you were a waste of money.
Anon are you kidding me??? Are you on drugs or were you born stupid? Most of the smart and competent people left long before all this went down. The good employees that got let go are glad they did as the LPL culture kept the “cream of the crop” at the bottom. Anon, if you work at LPL I’m sure I corrected your many mistakes and/or had to teach you the definition of esoteric financial terms such as IRA, 401k, cash, etc.
My dog could get a four year degree and pass the series 7. And I’m sure she is much smarter than you.
If I live to see the day that LPL fails I will die a happy man.
Well put #35!
If you live in Charlotte this is not unfamiliar territory. Let’s see TIAA-CREF moved a bunch of people down from NYC in 2000 (on their NY salary might I add) and layed them off in 2002. And last I heard they were laying off without severance. Walk All Over Ya (I mean Wachovia) and BofA lay off seasonally. And that is a well known fact when you take on a job for either of them. Um…Vanguard doesn’t pay worth a crap (which is why everyone starts there 1st because they will pay you while you get your licenses). And trust many of the people that you interacted with made the local rounds to many of these companies. So all that feeling the love stuff is a bunch of crap.
AB I have just one question for you…if LPL sucked so bad, why the hell did you wait for them to lay you off? 6 years is LONG time to put up with a bunch of incompetent idiots for less than $30k per year. I bet your brass monkey ass signed the damn aggreement and will not be returning your 1 month pay or any amount of the severance they will be giving you. Entitlement is b*tch!
Did someone post names and they got deleted? What happened to freedom of speech?
does anyone have any names? I’d be interested as someone who bailed a year ago
NTW: Where did I post that I was laid off from LPL? You’re right, 6 years is a long time to work with so many incompetent idiots and brass monkey asses. I should have WALKED OUT much earlier than when I did. Since you don’t seem really that bright I’ll explain to you that when you voluntarily quit a job you are not entitled to severance or unemployment benefits (uh, this means I received no entitlements). NTW, I feel sorry for you because having 4th grade level reading skills must be a b*tch! Here’s an idea, apply for a job at LPL. I’m sure with your “qualifications” you would get hired and I know you’d fit right in.
If I live to see the day that LPL fails I will die a happy man.
REMEMBER THIS YOU WHINEY LIBERALS: No employer or company owe you anything! Pull yourselves up by your bootstrap and stop whining. You former employees need to stop throwing stones at a company that only did what was only in its best interest. Remember, a business decision is never a personal decision.
Furthermore, employees of any company are expendable…there’s nothing special about you or me. I must say, the extraction of middle management is an unusual move but I understand the logic. Also, the negative and childish opinions expressed here are indicative of what was wrong with the company in the first place. LPL is not perfect place to work but it’s a good company compared to most and I would gladly say it again if I was laid off at the end of the next qaurter. To those of you who wish to remain in the finance as a career choice, PLEASE HEED MY WARNING: We are in for a very arduous and tough four years now that we have an untested and clueless “tax and spend” liberal/socialist president in office. Here’s to a QUICK and PAINLESS FOUR YEARS! GOD SPEED,I wish you well former colleagues and friends.
LOL #42. That’s what was needed comedy. Right at the right time!
ONE MORE THOUGHT: Too bad operations wasn’t entirely wiped out. They do nothing but collect a paycheck, screw up simple data entry detail, give bad and often vague information. Heck, trained monkeys can do better than those people. Well that’s all for me folks!
Viva la Reagan and Cheers!
Amen Dog Eat Dog! You’re are telling the truth, brother! Most of these California liberals are whiners indeed.
Republican and Proud
Has LPL Human Resources reps entered the site as Replubicians? Raw Raw LPL! Raw publiciannn! Stay tuned!!!
#42, all this mess was caused by the right wing neo conservative deception of perfect markets and no need for regulation, by greed corruption, and deception of the last 8-12 yrs. so u say the new guy is going to make it worse than the traitor of all americans gw bush and his policies destroyed the fundamentals of our economy stripped away the checks n balances that made it trust worthy to do business in america…..but either way, why are you complaining now you are really on your own, go get that job a 7 eleven like u guy so often advocate to the working poor…
Very bad management from top to bottom. HR is a joke. IT infrastructure is a joke. Pay and benefits are a joke. This is a typical third rate company. No, I was not laid off. I went out and started a company 3 years ago. It’s a first rate company that pays its employees well and treats them with respect.
To #48 ARE YOU HIRING!?
Thank you.
I’ve been gone from LPL for over four years and from the look of these comments, it looks like nothing has changed. My department was a joke. My boss was unqualified, autocratic, had zero listening skills and had horrible buffalo breath. What a tyrant. I’m glad I left when I did! To those of you who got the axe, trust me, there’s a whole world of opportunity out there. Go make it happen.