| Average: All Firms | A.G. Edwards | Edward Jones | First Union Securities | Merrill Lynch | Morgan Stanley | Prudential Securities | Salomon Smith Barney | UBS PaineWebber | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work Environment | 8.32 | 9.30 | 8.97 | 8.14 | 8.16 | 7.75 | 7.86 | 8.41 | 7.98 |
| Freedom from pressure to sell certain products | 9.23 | 9.96 | 9.84 | 9.62 | 8.54 | 8.40 | 9.06 | 9.30 | 9.10 |
| Realistic sales quotas | 8.65 | 9.64 | 9.26 | 8.35 | 8.44 | 8.18 | 8.36 | 8.51 | 8.46 |
| The firm's hiring and recruiting practices | 7.66 | 8.22 | 8.82 | 7.32 | 7.88 | 6.94 | 6.82 | 7.86 | 7.42 |
| Payout | 7.72 | 9.12 | 8.80 | 7.58 | 7.18 | 6.62 | 7.50 | 8.08 | 6.84 |
| Benefits | 8.36 | 9.56 | 8.12 | 7.84 | 8.78 | 8.62 | 7.58 | 8.30 | 8.10 |
| Support | 7.94 | 8.45 | 9.17 | 7.29 | 8.08 | 7.56 | 7.54 | 8.02 | 7.58 |
| Overall sales support at firm | 8.02 | 8.74 | 9.54 | 7.58 | 7.88 | 7.38 | 7.44 | 7.92 | 7.70 |
| Quality of sales assistants | 7.87 | 8.16 | NA | 7.68 | 8.22 | 7.26 | 7.82 | 8.00 | 7.96 |
| Quantity of sales assistants | 7.20 | 7.94 | 9.36 | 6.74 | 7.08 | 6.42 | 6.46 | 6.74 | 6.82 |
| Quality of sales ideas | 7.82 | 8.16 | 9.20 | 7.40 | 7.80 | 7.72 | 6.96 | 8.16 | 7.16 |
| Ongoing training | 8.15 | 8.92 | 9.58 | 6.88 | 8.56 | 7.94 | 8.02 | 7.90 | 7.38 |
| The quote and information system | 8.70 | 9.10 | 8.76 | 8.46 | 8.24 | 8.48 | 8.73 | 9.02 | 8.84 |
| Quality of the firm's operations | 7.96 | 8.64 | 9.06 | 6.80 | 8.38 | 7.72 | 6.92 | 8.52 | 7.60 |
| Account statements | 7.83 | 7.96 | 8.72 | 6.78 | 8.48 | 7.56 | 8.00 | 7.92 | 7.20 |
| Product | 7.98 | 8.50 | 9.18 | 7.61 | 8.17 | 7.81 | 7.17 | 7.87 | 7.53 |
| Quality of the firm's research | 7.54 | 7.55 | 8.92 | 7.02 | 8.10 | 7.61 | 6.92 | 7.00 | 7.16 |
| The firm's fixed-income pricing | 7.77 | 8.56 | 9.12 | 7.46 | 7.50 | 7.50 | 6.54 | 7.86 | 7.58 |
| Quality of the products offered | 8.64 | 9.40 | 9.50 | 8.36 | 8.92 | 8.32 | 8.04 | 8.76 | 7.84 |
| Management | 8.60 | 9.09 | 9.49 | 7.96 | 8.96 | 8.49 | 7.86 | 8.74 | 8.54 |
| Your branch manager | 8.31 | 8.84 | NA | 8.35 | 8.48 | 8.06 | 8.14 | 8.10 | 8.22 |
| The firm's strategic focus | 8.25 | 8.59 | 9.28 | 7.38 | 8.62 | 8.30 | 7.12 | 8.56 | 8.12 |
| Overall ethics of the firm | 9.31 | 9.74 | 9.94 | 8.94 | 9.64 | 8.98 | 8.80 | 9.38 | 9.08 |
| The firm's image with the public | 8.54 | 9.18 | 9.24 | 7.16 | 9.10 | 8.60 | 7.38 | 8.92 | 8.74 |
Methodology: How the Firms Were Surveyed
Fifty producing reps from each of the firms were surveyed during August and September (a small percentage after the Sept. 11 attacks). The brokers came from RR's subscriber list and were selected from a random sample of 800 readers from each firm. The first 50 willing and available brokers who had been with their firm at least one year were polled by telephone.
Respondents were asked to rank their employers in 20 categories, based on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. They were also asked for their general comments.
Four major categories are broken out — Work Environment, Support, Product and Management. Scores for these four items are averages of the survey items listed below each heading.
Broker quotes in the firm summaries on the previous pages are from reps who were surveyed. No respondent was quoted more than once within the entire report.