American Express reviews

4.1

81% would recommend to a friend

(18,591 total reviews)
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Stephen J Squeri

89% approve of CEO

79% positive business outlook

American Express has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 18,591 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The American Express employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Finance industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

19K reviews
1.0
Sep 13, 2024

Shiny exterior, toxic interior

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The pay is above market rate and the benefits package outshines that of the majority of other employers. There are a few genuinely nice colleagues, but navigating through the web of office politics can often prove challenging.

Cons

- International Management is sinking the company, They act on their own interests, fight for control, veto ideas coming from below, steal credit, micromanage and are generally unqualified. They epitomise the fixed mindset. - Dissenting opinions are frequently met with intolerance, and those who voice them are swiftly silenced and exited. Genuine career advancement opportunities are scarce, resulting in the categorisation of employees into two distinct groups: the constant influx of new hires due to high turnover rates, and the "life jobbers" who resist any substantial or meaningful organisational change. -The company culture discourages questions or challenges, labeling any attempt to raise concerns as a “bad attitude.” Employees are expected to smile and conform to management’s whims, which creates a toxic and authoritarian environment. There’s no real job security here, and the constant turnover only worsens morale. -Additionally, there is a disturbing trend of asking employees to post overly positive reviews to drown out the genuine negative feedback from those who are brave enough to speak out about the company’s shortcomings. This manipulative approach to managing its reputation speaks volumes about the lack of integrity within the organisation. Overall, it’s a company that has lost its way, treating its employees as disposable and prioritising short-term savings over long-term stability and trust.

5.0
Dec 5, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Flexible Working - Excellent focus on employees - Very good salary and progression opportunities - Friendly work environment with a good focus on work/life balanace

Cons

- Hard to make a big difference - There can be quite a bit of red tape in projects

3.0
Mar 24, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

One of the most generous pay and benefits packages outside of London Good working hours - some people work late but you don't feel obliged to work past 5pm and many people leave early and work flexible patterns. Occasional or regular home-working is possible in many teams A fair amount of 'fun' activities and training opportunities onsite to keep employee morale up Lovely new office building

Cons

- Typically male dominated workplace in tech organisation. A macho culture in some teams - if you're not into sports, cars and going to the gym, you might not have much to chat to your colleagues about. - Performance/year-end ratings process is tedious, draining, unfair and unpleasant, nasty feedback is given under the guise of 'constructive criticism'. - Frequent "restructures" - redundancies nearly every year, job doesn't feel secure - Have seen leaders bully employees, no easy way to report this without fear of consequences - American corporate culture - for obvious reasons - and a lot of the 'good stuff' happens over in the US so UK teams are often left feeling powerless or second-best. - Have also seen younger colleagues ostracized in teams of long-tenured employees - Lots of secrecy about all sorts of decision making, lack of openness, of course some things have to be confidential at a financial company but some decisions that affect employees, should be openly discussed rather than whispering about literally everything as if we're cold war spies! - Lots of incompetent people holding onto their positions by charming leadership - 'networking' seems more important than actual competence at doing your job - Likewise, incompetent people seem to feel threatened by employees who are actually talented, so some of these talented individuals end up at the bottom of the pile, of course the sensible ones leave for greener pastures! - The year-end rating system pits employees against eachother instead of encouraging collaboration, and again, charming your leaders and blowing your own trumpet loudly seems to be a faster route to success than actually doing a good job. - It's even worse the higher up you go, with VPs always trying to protect and expand their empire as if it's Game of Thrones, this is not immediately evident when you're lower down the ranks but have a frank discussion with a VP and you realise how much they're playing eachother for bonuses and survival. - Terrible food and coffee in canteen...

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