Discover Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

Competitive salary, generous time off, dynamic and exciting workload

Cons

Greatest flaw that comes to mind is the use of Windows XP and MS Office 2003. Were told upgrades to Windows 7 and Office 2010 upcoming, but nothing yet.

Pros

Discover provides housing in a top-notch extended stay hotel for the entire summer, with some meals provided. The work environment is warm and welcoming throughout the entire campus. You are provided a mentor that is there to help and talk to you whenever you need it. You will not feel lost at any point, because the people you work with will help you with anything that you need. The campus also has a huge food court, several small shops with treats/food/drinks. It also has a fitness center that is very convenient. The people are very easy to talk to and get along with. The recruiting supervisor is absolutely the best. She makes the experience top-notch and extremely enjoyable with intern events planned all throughout the summer. Being able to hang out with other interns also makes its a great summer. You will make many new friends and have experiences with them that you will never forget. Truthfully an amazing summer for an intern.

Cons

Upper management is fairly distant from employees and they have a hard time acting on feedback and suggestions given to them by employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees, and actually follow through with promises that are made. Take suggestions/criticism and use them to your benefit.

Pros

Great colleagues, balance of work and family

Cons

Commute can be pretty horrendous from the city of Chicago (the office is located in the northern suburbs). Also, working for a mid-tier brand can be limiting in terms of long-term personal and professional growth. The management team also seems to have an overly conservative management philosophy with regards to growth, new initiatives, and ground-breaking change.

Pros

- Relaxed environment, good work life balance
- Approachable leadership team
- Least possible commute if stay in nearby residential suburbs

Cons

- Conservative and narrow outlook towards business growth opportunity
- Limited opportunity and career advancement options

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on key competencies for promoting employees than loyalty and trust within close circles.

Pros

Energetic culture, bright people, and the workforce is turning over in an upward trajectory of higher caliber people.

Cons

Technology is the tail that wags the dog, and they move slowly. Sometimes the Midwest culture doesn't seem to understand that the marketplace is shaped by what happens on the coasts.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to take some more risks. Competiton is overwhelmingly bigger and aggressive. Exec management likes their stock, comfort, and comes from silver spoons. Time to take some risks boys, and share all that gravy you came upon in your 30's with the rest of us.

Pros

Treat employees with respect and truely believes in doing the right thing for the customer

Cons

Pay is below industry standards

Pros

5 Weeks of Paid time off
Work at home privilege in the Business Technology Business Unit

Cons

Not a lot of opportunities for career growth
Conservative culture

Advice to Senior Management

Take better care of your top performing employees

Pros

Great paid time off benefits, good work-life balance, nice campus, on-site fitness center, not an evil company like some others in the industry.

Cons

No clear path for career progression, even though the company promotes "internal mobility". If one wants to advance in their current role or in their own department, it's anyone's guess as to how to do this aside from getting "in" with management. Bad employees aren't held accountable for their actions.

Advice to Senior Management

Hold employees to a higher standard and trim non-performers. Far too many people are just "coasting" along and are quite happy to do so as long as they get a middle of the road review at the end of the year. The work at home program, while convenient for some, is killing the morale of those employees actually dedicated to their work. Individuals that slack off also tend to be in the list of those that work from home regularly, and this often leaves the rest of us picking up the slack.

Pros

Great hours, pay, time off, and people

Cons

Inconsistent experience from department to department

Pros

It's a great place to learn. There are great opportunities for intercompany movement.

Cons

Compensation is less than average