Discover Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

The benefits are great. 25 PTO days per year on top of 8 paid holidays is fantastic. The company is very open to employees working at home.

Cons

As an aspiring developer, or anyone with goals, there is little to be had here. While the work/life balance and benefits are excellent, this also works to the detriment of those actually interesting in accomplishing anything. A few key problems:

- Employees are held accountable for nothing
- Promotions are given out based on personal management favorites, not merit
- As a developer, the tools available are very limiting

Advice to Senior Management

The upper management team at Discover hasn't changed much in many years. This stagnation is cause for many of the problems at the company, as no fresh ideas are being brought in. Upper management needs to be shaken up. Additionally, more emphasis needs to be placed on taking care of "bad" employees.

Pros

- Great vacation time
- Good medical benefits
- Relatively easy-going work environment

Cons

- Impossible to elevate career
- Not for the ambitious
- No concept of people management
- Pay is below average
- Middle management is very questionable because the best people leave

Advice to Senior Management

- You need to find your superstars and give them reason to stay. Otherwise you'll be stuck with mediocre talent with no communication and people management skills.

Pros

The best think about Discover is the benefits.

Cons

Things are done based on politics. They don't always do the right things like their values state.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't just promote people into Managment positions. There are many without any people management skills who shouldn't manage. Also, when employees receive their performance review, it shouldn't be final at that point. The employee should be able to respond and have a say in it. Sometimes the manager doesn't know what they are doing and is wrong. The employee shouldn't be penalized for this. There needs to be more balance of power.

Pros

Nice fitness center and cafeteria, nice campus overall.

Cons

Extreme favoritism, if you're in not in the 'clique', you're out.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't play favorites.

Pros

Even starting associates can use as many as 25 paid days off their first calendar year. The benefits package is enviable. Many employees have the option of working from home all the time or select days of the week. Generous transit/commuting discounts. If you enjoy a structured work environment, you can get that here--team, departmental and companywide meetings are commonplace. You get feedback on your work. Training opportunities abound. Beautiful campus at HQ and a nice cafeteria, too.

Cons

It's corporate. The bottom line is about money, not people; however, DFS is far more conscientious than other comparable companies.

Advice to Senior Management

My experience with managers was generally positive, but I know the manager-employee relationships are not similarly positive across the board.

Pros

team work, financial services, benefits (originally really generous, but are very slowly coming down near other places I've worked), respect

Cons

promotions are difficult to come by, recession and Obama laws are killing credit card companies, to get respect you need to network hard INISIDE the company - more so than other places I've worked

Advice to Senior Management

conservative, fair, respectful, smart, industry veterans, everyone worked at another bank in some capacity, pushes hard on the employees they identify as stellar

Pros

The paid time off bank is great.

Cons

The new credit card regulations will negatively affect Discover and it will be hard to maintain any modicum of profitability.

Advice to Senior Management

Be introspective.

Pros

Discover has one of the most consistently professional and competent workforces I've seen among several employers. The work is interesting and varied. The facilities are pleasant and conducive to engagement and collaboration. Management and accountability ranges from excellent in many areas to inexplicably bad in a few others.

Cons

Salary growth is almost nonexistent for most nonmanagement employees. At the same time, executives are vastly overpaid-- up to $20 million for the CEO. (In Chicago, only Abbott Labs has a CEO salary to match Discover's!). New hires have much to gain in experience, just be aware that you will likely not see much salary growth regardless of performance.

Advice to Senior Management

Return more compensation to the nonmanagement talent which drives success far out of proportion to their pay. Also, dump the annual recognition event, a costly extravaganda that honors a handful of people while dissing hundreds of equally deserving coworkers!

Pros

Good benefits. Very good starting wages (for marketing, anyway). If you put in the time up front, you'll get a month vacation time a year. People are very friendly, and in the marketing department, everyone seems to have a pretty good sense of humor. They also have a gym on the grounds and a cafeteria with great food.

Cons

Corporate atmosphere. Lack of creativity. If you live in the Chicago proper, the commute is hellish. You must take the metra or drive. By metra or car it's at least 1 1/2 hours commute each way. And that's not when it's snowing. Maybe the place could be more creative, but it is, after all, a financial institution and they're not known for being fun or for making creative leaps in the art world. It's about money.

Advice to Senior Management

Not much, really. They did a good job. Maybe work on the work flow- sometimes there were too many cooks in the kitchens for creative projects.

Pros

Money and benefits, well known company

Cons

current market situation, credit crisis

Advice to Senior Management

I think senior management is ok