New York Life Employee Reviews

This is a Fortune 100 company that values their employees, supports them and wants them to succeed. This is especially important because financial services is a tough business. Most people know very little about the scope of what we do, or about our company- that we're owned by our policy owners, not Wall Street, for instance. But people are highly skeptical of "insurance companies" and have made assumptions about us, especially thinking that all we do is insurance when we're trained to provide a full range of financial services for individuals and businesses: retirement planning, estate planning, business planning, tax diversification, etc. The company knows this however and supports us. Our training is undisputedly known as the best in the industry. Very deep dives on ethics, products, business management, etc.,--and it's a three year program. We're encouraged to secure securities licenses and they pay for the training. Currently they're also paying bonuses when licenses are secured. Compensation is based on performance, so it's not easy. But, it's possible to make a lot of money. The company pays very well when new business is brought in. Benefits are outstanding! Lastly, this company doesn't just talk diversity they walk the talk. By far the most diverse workforce I've ever seen, top to bottom. No glass ceilings here! All that and we're the gold standard in the industry.- the oldest, largest and financially strongest mutual insurance company in the United States.

Pros

Ethical company, best in the business training, high compensation, diverse workforce, excellent management, high expectations

Cons

Compensation is tied to brining in new clients

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Great Company & Great Mentors

Agent (Former Employee) - San Diego, CA - September 23, 2023

New York Life is a great company. New York Life’s training program offers the perfect blend of expertise, mentorship, and hands-on experience for your success!

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New York Life insights

Based on 1,241 survey responses

What people like

Inclusive work environment
Ability to learn new things
Time and location flexibility

Commission based

Agent (Current Employee) - Elk Grove, CA - September 22, 2023

Stayed disciplined if you want to succeed. Getting registered will help your career. Ask questions and be persistent. Management and other agents are helpful.

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Good Training

Agent (Current Employee) - New York, NY - September 21, 2023

People are willing to help you out when you are stuck. The managers can sit in meetings with you and do not take a piece of your commission. Ability to work remote.

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Learned more than I bargained for

Agent (Former Employee) - New Hampshire - September 20, 2023

They treat their agents well and give tons of training however you must have a roladex of 500+ friends to make money. Area dependent they teach you how to go business to business, walk and talk, exchange business cards then make follow-up phone calls. Not easy to make money and no leads given. Not easy to make enough month to month to be kept in the program. If you have low sales and 1 person doesn’t qualify or backs out you’re in the hook to pay back the money forwarded to you. Great sales psychology training but hard to make a living

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Good benefits but advancement opportunity is a joke and management is toxic

Customer Service Representative (Former Employee) - Seattle, WA - September 20, 2023

Benefits are good. Zero work/life balance. Management is toxic which makes for toxic environment. Advancement is based on time not performance which they will vehemently deny.

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The right mission, poorly managed

Manager (Former Employee) - New York, NY - September 20, 2023

The company has changed over time. It used to be a very long-term caring culture that treated employees with dignity and respect. That has eroded in pursuit of poorly crafted plans being executed by leaders who ultimately won't be around to see them through. Tough to tell what the future holds.

Pros

You'll encounter many great people and will do important, meaningful work

Cons

Technologically inept, weak leadership, advancement is purely based on who you know

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Waste of time

Insurance Agent (Former Employee) - Melville, NY - September 19, 2023

You work for nothing. Managers are arrogant and they expect you to get your business from family and friends. Talked down to you like your children. Unprofessional

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Finance

Analyst (Former Employee) - NYC - September 17, 2023

Worked there a long time ago. It was a good company. I don't know how the company is like now. Lots of changes since. The insurance business has also made huge changes over the years.

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Wonderful training

Sales Representative (Former Employee) - Downtown, Chicago - September 17, 2023

A great company with a training second to none. The only con is if you don't have a build in network you won't make it. You have to be able to write business within 6 months from your own network.

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Jobs at New York Life

See more jobs

2024 Technology Summer Internship Program

New York, NY

30+ days ago

2024 NYL Investments Summer Internship Program

New York, NY

30+ days ago

Bilingual Financial Advisor (Punjabi/Hindi/Gujarati/Bengali/Urdu)

New York, NY

30+ days ago

2024 Group Benefit Solutions Sales Internship

Remote

30+ days ago

NYL Internship: ML/OPS Engineer

New York, NY

9 days ago

Great place to work

Senior Associate (Former Employee) - New York, NY - September 15, 2023

Dedicated teams focused on company goals with tremendous leadership support. Very flexible in the pandemic and creative in enabling teams to work virtually. Dedicated to sales force and clients and makes business decisions based on their best interests.

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Great company/Poor Management

Customer Service (Former Employee) - Cleveland, OH - September 14, 2023

NYL is a great company, however, management is terrible. They micromanage and know one is managing them. The CVPs don’t have meetings with anyone that is not management, so they are free to pretty much do as they please. The company has great benefits and perks, but management makes it not worth it.

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Understaffed with unrealistic expectations

Long Term Disability Analyst (Former Employee) - Remote - September 14, 2023

Completely understaffed with triple the amount of claims one person should be responsible for. Upper management constantly made aware of issues but the most you will get is “we understand”

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lots of freedom but no guaranteed income

Financial Services Professional (Current Employee) - San Antonio, TX - September 14, 2023

It’s like all things both good and bad (pros and cons) it’s a great company with good training and resources. There is an opportunity to earn a great income and develop yourself… BUT It’s hard to build a practice and get your own clients. The commission based pay is great when you close a big case but very stressful when you haven’t closed any cases in a couple months. The majority of people are not likely to do well at NYL but for the few it can be a dream job.The statistics show that 9 out of 10 people are going to fail or quit out of the business within the first 3 years. It will require a strong conviction and relentless goal setting to succeed.

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They're ok, could be way better.

Agent (Former Employee) - San Francisco Bay Area, CA - September 14, 2023

Depending on who your manager and/or trainer is, for the most part can be really supportive.There's a lot of training and education to prepare you for the role. They also have some of the most successful people in the company train agents around the country, online and in person. This is good because you can learn from the greats and network with them. Be sure to ask clarifying questions about the role. Especially any incentives, stipends, and pay structures that are being promoted. They don't share everything with you about it upfront. If you don't, you may find out afterwards how it may effect you. And that could put you in a tight spot financially. Even if you become a top agent and make a bunch of money from a bunch of sales, if you don't meet the quota after a while, you could lose your eligibility to receive basic training funds and any promoted stipends. Commission rates are great but as much money as this company has, they could pay their agents better when it comes to payment outside of sales commissions. Living and working in the Bay Area is one of the hardest places to be financially. They need to change their system to accommodate the agents so they're not at risk financially. Like a salary base pay + commissions would make a substantial difference with agents. When you don't have to stress about your basic needs and wellbeing being met financially, that can up your motivation and solidify your efforts to going 110% in the business.When it comes to work culture i'ts okay, could be a lot better. Not all of the agents are friendly or welcoming. Most are cool, some -

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Eh

Customer Service Representative (Former Employee) - New York, NY - September 12, 2023

It wasn’t bad but wasn’t good either it’s not what was expecting the people where okay but just didn’t like how it can get dull at times and made me want sleep

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Hard to balance

Registered Representative (Former Employee) - Tulsa, OK - September 8, 2023

Hard to balance work/home life. Full commission and once you are out of the first three years, little to no support. Training for investments is lacking and needs great improvement.

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Tons of training

Life Insurance Agent (Current Employee) - Riverside, CA - September 8, 2023

This was a great place to work. There was plenty of help from managers. The only negative things is that, if you do not have a great warm market coming in, it will be somewhat challenging as you are responsible for finding your own leads.

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Same as the rest

Life Insurance Sales Agent (Former Employee) - North Carolina - September 6, 2023

Like all life insurance companies you have to bring a bunch of people with you that are willing to share their medical history, then buy what you have to sell, and continue to make their monthly payments once they have purchased the policy. Your pay check will depend upon this. Unless you have a following that is will spend their money as you say find something else to do. You will lose your social and family life because every interaction will become about your job. Do something else if enjoying friends and family is important to you. Yes you are providing life insurance but if they miss a payment they lose all the money that they have spent, you get a charge back, and then you are both out of money and out of a friend. Do something else!

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Very great place

Agent (Current Employee) - Ronkonkoma, NY - September 6, 2023

Great Place so far, very intense training. word then other word then we woulds go for a walk with world on the word the dogs would bark and the bones would through

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A great career for the right person

Financial Advisor (Current Employee) - New England - September 6, 2023

When NYL approached me three years ago, I did not plan on taking the job but it ended up working back an in retrospect I'm very happy with that decision. As you create your own practice, it involves a very different set of skills including the ability to drive yourself to your goals, and putting on your "business owner," hat more often than not. The culture at the company is great, and management depends on which general office you are at. Overall I feel that my colleagues are very supportive as opposed to being competitive. The contract has ton of deferred compensation in it, and compared to other firms it is fantastic that you don't need to pay them upfront to come in and actually get a stipend during your first two years. Having seen dozens of new agents come through my advice would be that you need to want a career in insurance/finance OR think it might be a good fit for you. It takes drive and hard work to build a practice, and although people who have been with the company for a long time might be able to leave the office at 3pm each day, that won't be you immediately (though the ability to make your own schedule helps).Apart from being able to help clients directly, what I love about the career is that apart from supervision, I push myself to my own goals and determine what I make based on that. No one is going to sit me down to give me a 2% raise. If I work hard to double my salary from one year to the next, it happens. It's very much a merit-based system as well for going into management or working at the home office.