It was a blessing when they let me go. I literally felt the stress lifting off of my chest as I left TIAA on my last day with them. I used to have a constant feeling of chest pressure, as if a 2 year-old child was sitting on my chest everyday because of the extreme stress levels there. You would never know what management will find to write you up about; you would always find yourself waiting for the other shoe to fall. The Town Hall Meetings caused a lot of staff to feel physically ill because they always anticipated bad news.

They lied to me before they let me go – they told me I would not make more than TIAA paid, because TIAA had the best salaries in the industry. My salary is higher now than it was with TIAA. My skills and talents have been recognized and I’ve been promoted. I feel bad for the staff that hangs by a thread everyday; TIAA’s managers are going to reap the harvest of lies, deceit, underhandedness and mistreatment of who work so hard to try to keep a sinking ship afloat.

Just know that the economy is getting better, and there is INDEED life after TIAA. Hang in there until you don’t have to anymore. Be blessed !!!

Who would have thought that a company like TIAA-CREF would have such pathetic managers who got the position because they were from New York and been with the company for years and was promoted because management got tired of interviewing them for a manager position. Now that the person has the position, the power has gone to his or her butt (bypass logical thinking) and he or she would do anything to hold on to management status. Which I think he or she has sold their soul for the position.

Just remember God is watching and knows what everyone is doing. things that is done in the dark will eventually come out in the light.

While in the HR office with my manager, I asked if I could go back to the call center but was told no because my salary was too hire for the position. Okay so I left, no had feelings about the company.

No hold on to your hats. I friends who still work for TIAA-CREF and was told the remaining people in my department was transferred to the call center becasue the company did not have any other position for them.

Now it that something low or what. And it gets even better, the remaining people left was all from New York, so go figure. This brings up a very interesting question. What did the manager have to go by to choose who was to stay and who was to be laid off. Oh, did I forget to mention that these individuals annaul salary ranged from $75k to K87K. which was an average of $20k to 30K more than my salary.

I would say, this was a New York manager looking out for the New York people. Go figure. Am I mad? No, because I think things are done for a reason. Maybe it was my time to go but one thing I can say is that now I have a life, and it feels good not to be under pressure Monday through Friday. That type of pressure can wear you body down and make you look older than you really are.

My word of wisdom is, when God close one door, he opens another.

Peace and prayers for those who are still there, who are still under pressure Monday through Friday, no life, body wearing out and face looking older everyday.

I have a smile everyday that God allows me to wake up. Can you say the same.

The service reps then became accountable for all the messes and problems. They required people to stay late, work on weekends, do everything but offer their firstborn to fix a system that didn’t work from day one. The first few years of this new computer system was like chickens with their heads cut off. Everything was emergent, they had escalation committees, employees feeling threatened by management because the system was jacked. Management, (and wanna be management )trying to micromanage everyone all for the sake of keeping their own jobs.

Tiaa Cref has become such a joke! Management is a joke! Who put these jokers in these positions??! And then they have the nerve to put these lame, emotional commercials on TV! Give me a break!

Strange group, really strange.

http://www.tiaa-cref.org/about/governance/docs/exec_comp_policy.pdf

You’ll find this in there:

EMPLOYEE SEVERANCE PLAN AND EXECUTIVE RETENTION PLAN

Employees who are terminated involuntarily because their positions are eliminated, relocated, or their job
duties change due to Company reorganization qualify under the TIAA 2004 Severance Plan (Severance
Plan) for severance benefits based on years of service and base salary. In general, the severance
benefit is based on the number of years of completed service and is tiered as follows:

Base Salary Benefit / Year of Service
< $100,000 2 weeks
$100,000 – 149,999 3 weeks
$150,000 – 199,999 3.5 weeks
$200,000 + 4 weeks

The minimum severance benefit for each compensation range listed above is 6, 9, 10.5 and 12 weeks,
respectively. The maximum benefit for all compensation ranges is 52 weeks salary.
In addition, employees who are eligible for benefits under the Severance Plan are also eligible to receive
a prorated portion of their prior year Annual Cash Award. Also, any outstanding performance units
awarded in 2005 or later under the LTPP will continue to vest per the vesting schedule under which the
awards were granted. LTPP awards granted prior to 2005 will vest on a prorated basis. Severance
benefits are conditional on the employee signing a release agreement.
In order to foster greater stability at the Executive Vice President level in connection with the planned
CEO transition, in December 2007 the Board approved the Executive Retention Plan. This policy, which
became effective on April 14, 2008, provides enhanced severance pay in the event of a termination of
employment by the Company without cause or by the executive for “good reason” during the first 12
months of Roger W. Ferguson Jr.’s employment as CEO. Under the Executive Retention Plan, in the
event of a termination described above, the executive would be entitled to a lump sum payment equal to
the greater of the executive’s total compensation in 2006 or 2007, less any compensation actually paid or
awarded during the one year period. Essentially, the obligation under this plan is continuously reduced
during the 12-month period as the executive continues to receive compensation in the normal manner.
Payments under the Executive Retention Plan are in lieu of benefits under the Severance Plan, but
executives will receive no less than the amount payable under the Severance Plan. Participation is
subject to execution of a release and certain restrictive covenants.

This company is known to be ‘Management By Intimadation’. AKA ‘if you dont do this or that, you get no vacation, weekend, evening, LIFE’.

RUN RUN RUN from this company. This was the WORST years of my career. I’r rather shovel shit than work for them.

Pathetic.

Your horrible manager sounds eerily familiar to me. Were you working in the so-called “risk management” group?

I can also confirm as others have that the layoffs are happening. Employees have asked for voluntary severance and TIAA-CREF has denied this request. Rather than let go those that want to leave they are removing staff they feel are dead weight. Packages are as mentioned 2 weeks for every year at the company. However, the argument about percentage wise how many will leave is an interesting one. Many of the rumors float about 5-10% of staff. However, if one reads the communication from executive management and the CEO it would indicate a larger cut. They often site ongoing “refinements” and “retooling” as we move forward. My educated guess is that this is probably the first round of several.

It has finally leaked to the press:

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2008/08/04/daily53.html

also on

http://www.charlotte.com