American Express Reviews in London, UK Area

Pros

- work life balance
- global movement opportunities

Cons

- slightly lower salaries
- lots of approvals so things can take time to get done

Advice to Senior Management

offer more special project development opportunities

Pros

Not a lot of pressure. Some bright people. Great brand. Performs well every year.

Cons

Zero innovation. Super political, with patronage and butt kissing the way to get promoted. Performance appraisals are a real disincentive. Compared to other organisations I've worked it's a complacent, arrogant organisation that is slow to change and managed by people afraid to wreck their career by challenging the status quo. Don't work here if you want excitement!

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on performance and eradicate the politics. Most of the people in the organisation could contribute so much more - you just don't harness the ability of the people.

Pros

The brand is recognition does open one or two doors, and the stability of the company does give credability to the products being sold - far more so than for other firms in the sector.

Cons

The company prides itself on exceptional customer service but does nothing to inspire this in its front office account managers. There is literally no training, and the example of a customer kept on hold whilst the operative tries to scramble around for a different department to off load them to is epitomised.
Team leader status is achieved by being selfish with leads, and their is no nuturing of good or new candidates.
The old guard of the team are forced to take wide and wider margins, and risk loosing valuable clients, in order to acheive the greatest yield in the shortest time. Commission are literally non-existant until executives acheive 75% of their annual target.
Executives are not encouraged to become ambassadors for the brand or even experts in their field. Every single employee is out of the office on the dot.
It is a loveless and passionless place to work.

Advice to Senior Management

Talk to your staff. Your commission structure is designed to suit you and not those for whom the commission is intended. You cant expect to attract and retain the industrys finest if your package becomes less attractive the longer someone stays. You should look to nuture an atmosphere or open discourse, where feedback gets to the relevant parties. At the moment executives cant be bothered to express their concerns because they are constantly reminded that nothing will be done about it.

Pros

- Opportunities to move around
- Focus on teamwork

Cons

- Whilst work/life balance is trumpeted it is not like that for all departments
- PMP is a joke
- Too much play acting (meetings, powerpoint etc) with very little to show for it in terms of results

Advice to Senior Management

Try to run the organisation so that everyone is treated fairly in terms of work/life balance. Too many situations in the workplace where some departments appear to be on perma-vacation/work from home where others are expected to be in everyday for long hours

Pros

Work life balance is decent.
There are possibilities to move from one function to another

Cons

Politics are huge and promotions are not always based on performance or skillset.

Advice to Senior Management

Review performance management process so that it does not become a numbers game.

Pros

Good place to hide if you´re not too talented
Good brand name
Just hang in long enough if you want a promotion: no up our out

Cons

Mediocre talent
Death by process
Performance management via strict scorecards invites employees to "play the numbers game" and neglect areas that are more important but not measured
Talks the talk but doesn´t walk the walk: empty promises regarding employee engagement
Limited innovation
Lots of meetings, little action

Advice to Senior Management

Set a clear strategy and stick to it
Get rid of the silo culture
Stop pretending we´re so smart and look outside for true best practices

Pros

Very little pressure and competition

Cons

Very messy enviroment, departments in EMEA do not talk to each other

Advice to Senior Management

Full organisational review, cut out dead wood , stillhave a lot of brand goodwill

Pros

Global company
Opportunities to work internationally

Cons

Leadership immaturity- Many employees are promoted to leadership positions in recognition of the good work they do but that does not necessarily make them good leaders.

Advice to Senior Management

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Pros

Good people, flexible workhours and good 'work/life' balance. Quite a young company, with lots of fresh-thinking employees. Good learning ground before you grow up and get a real job!

Cons

Compensation and benefits misaligned with industry averages
Poor middle-management SVP level. Extremely political and inability to make clear decisions or provide quality leadership.

Advice to Senior Management

Sort our the salaries - before we all leave!!

Pros

American Express is a very nice place to work (in the traditional meaning of "nice"). It is very comfortable and low stress, and the pressure placed on you, except in a few key roles, will be almost non-existent. This is fantastic for work-life balance. Management truly supports flexible working options, and it is easy to schedule your career around your life.

The top company leadership (Ken Chenault and his direct reports) is full of good people with good intentions. They genuinely care about the people who are in their care and try to do right by them.

American Express offers tremendous opportunity for advancement to anybody who is bright and ambitious. It is easy to succeed. Go-getters are uncommon, so they really stand out and are rewarded accordingly.

Cons

The company suffers from having a workforce that is unambitious and complacent, more interested in job security than quality or delivery. Compensation and material benefits (medical care, insurance) are below par compared to other industries. The company has absolutely no long-term strategy, and is very focused on tactical projects and execution of short-term programs. This has resulted in a number of disastrous investments in the past few years. NicThe level of leadership immediately below the CEO and the Presidents (the SVP level) is weak and extremely political. They don't get along with each other, and are quite petty and destructive with their own teams.

Advice to Senior Management

Develop a strategy. Stop the short-termism. Take off your blinkers. Demand more from your workforce.