American Express Reviews in New York City, NY Area

Pros

work life balance is unmatched
tons of MBAs

Cons

very "corporate America"
lag times to get ideas implemented

Advice to Senior Management

see above

Pros

Great place to learn and grow. The company encourages movement every 2 years. People work very hard and long hours and environment can be intense. But hard work is recognized and rewarded.

Cons

Compensation is low compared to other companies and virtually impossible to work virtually in the CCSG group at director and above levels.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow for mor flexibility at senior levels or high performers.

Pros

American Express is a brand that people know and trust. American Express draws top talent to the organization and has plenty of opportunities to delevlop your skills and network.

Cons

Amercian Express can be a very political company. Without knowing the right personl or being plugged into the right connections it can be tough to climb the corporate ladder.
Some people say that American Express doesn't pay as well as other Financial Services Company.

Advice to Senior Management

A year end salary bump that is at least equal to the price of inflation (cost of living) would be nice. Last year the cost of living increased by about 4.4% and my salary only increased by 1.86% despite my solid year-end review.

Pros

Amex is a great company. They aim to be the World's most respected service Brand. At Amex, it is all about service and most employees are that way, especially customer care professionals on the phones. I like working at Amex because I can connect with the idea of serving individual people and small businesses. I love the new and innovative ways we as a company are trying to do that.

Some other things I like:
BlueWork - The ability as a manager to work virtually when needed. This has been very valuable as we had a new baby in our family recently and I have been able to home to help out and work later in the evening after the kids have gone to bed.
Challenge - Amex expects you to be thinking in new ways and improve on what is currently being done. They recognize and reward discretionary effort.

Cons

NYC is very centralized for a global company. NYC is the Headquarters and that is still quite evident. Amex is working on becoming more global, but as it currently stands, most divisions are 50% US and 50% international. If you want to move up in HR, the feeling is, you have to be in NYC.

Also, others have cited poor productivity tools as a con for Amex and last year I totally agreed. I honestly wouldn't have stayed with Amex after interning with them knowing I would have to use Lotus Notes, had I not heard the plan to move to Outlook. Amex is finally rolling out new tools including Exchange/Outlook (this month) and Sharepoint in a couple of months from now.

Advice to Senior Management

Consider saving the company significant real estate costs by moving the headquarters out of NYC. This would reduce operating costs from real estate, and improve the cost of living and commute times for employees.

Pros

great work life balance! highly recommend Amex as a place to work. very european work structure

Cons

pitiful compensation. you won't get paid here; but if you want a work life balance this is the place for you. Highly attractive for women who have husbands that are in more lucrative companies.

Advice to Senior Management

great job!

Pros

- Good work/life balance
- Very respectful co-workers
- Good work environment
- Easy to move around within the company

Cons

- Pay could be better

Pros

Depth of Work- very detail oriented and deep work

Cons

Promotions are all who knows who. No respect for managers or below, its primarily a Director/VP+ company. The people who do real front line work , no one cares about - the organization is become very large and is an ocean. All promotions are pre decided, and internal posting process is a cloak to demonstrate fairness. Its all about if you have a sponser in the system.

Advice to Senior Management

Internal Posting - Amex is strong analytics driven company, why not use the same in finding good people who contribute to the company. The entire promotion process is completely judgemental, ratings, 9 box, internal postings - why not have a roigrous or analytical excercise in these processes? Why not convert the PMP process as a point based process of the work accomplished in addition to leader opinion - right now is all leader opinion.

Pros

Work-life balance, well respected brand, focus on customer service

Cons

Rigid career advancement; lacks innovation

Advice to Senior Management

Solicit opinions from subordinates; require honest appraisals in BURs (business unit review) - instead, all we do is market and spin our results to show off and please senior leadership - masks true issues

Pros

Stable environment, little changes from day to day
You get the sense that Ken Chenault really is a competent leader, but for some reason that mentality doesn't trickle down

Cons

Zero room for risk if you have a good idea
HEAVY corporate culture
Lots of women, sometimes felt like being in a giant knitting circle
Tons of red-tape
Lots of unspoken "no-no's" on processes, formalities, who talks to who, what your boundaries are at your job level
A company that is mired in its own past. You can feel and see that not much has changed for many years, and its not about to start changing now.

Advice to Senior Management

Take risks in your work, the business model isn't going to last as it is

Pros

American Express is a great company to work for if you are willing to work hard. Opportunities are there if you seek them out. Also, senior management can be helpful with promotions if they see that you are a hard worker, diligent and work well in a team as well as independent.

Cons

American Express creates specific positions. If the position is eliminated it may be hard to find another job of that caliber.

Advice to Senior Management

Consumers are an important key to the continued success of the organization. Continue to seek better ways to service them.