Run FAST! - Sr Associate Capital One Employee Review

1.0
Oct 16, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits, pay and nice facilities

Cons

Favoritism, inconsistencies, lack of people skills from senior leadership, work/life balance.... So many cons come to mind that I'm trying to "bucket" (C1 terminology) them together. Starting with feedback and performance overall... People management should be an exciting role as you develop your associates and help them grow personally and professionally, but that is NOT the case at C1. It needlessly overwhelms your productivity, IF you care about your team and take the time to compile their accomplishments and opportunities, because calibration sessions are not managed as intended. The outcome does not reflect the actual performance of those being calibrated against one another. The favorites are ranked higher, even if their performance is beneath their peers and deserving individuals get pushed into the "bottom buckets." Not to mention that the direction in '23 was to have the 8-15% I/A (Inconsistent/ Action Required) bucket expectation "lean heavily towards the 15%," which forced those in the Strong space to be placed alongside those needing improvement, ultimately resulting in PIPs and layoffs. End of year will be interesting as a large portion of Strong will now likely fall into the I/A space. Keep in mind that the manager and associate both have to complete a TM (Talent Management) appraisal in the Spring and Fall, which is in between the Mid Year and End of Year reviews, while also engaging in weekly 10:10 sessions and trying to squeeze in time to do your day job. Some departments also require a monthly review of their teams, so that is yet again more time needed, to compile, calibrate, deliver and receive even more performance feedback. HOW MUCH productivity is used and truly wasted in this space alone?! This horrendous process takes so much time that in order to get anything else done, you have to work extremely long hours, on weekends and on holidays = ZERO work/life balance. Think about the culture of everyone involved in this process as it promotes burnout, isolation and exclusion for a LOT of awesome performers when true performance isn't even discussed or brought to the forefront. That was a lot, so I'll be brief with the remainder. SLT (many of the Sr. Leadership Team, not all) does not demonstrate living the values at all. They make time for their favorites, give them the most air time (for increased visibility) and exclude others, which prevents them from having awareness to what accomplishments are being achieved. It's ultimately a vicious cycle because 100% at C1 involves performance management, calibration sessions and whether or not you stay employed instead of the value brought to the table or Changing Banking For Good. So, RUN FAST if you're working at C1 and especially if you're thinking of joining the company. Ignore the hundreds of open positions you see posted as they very likely belonged to well-deserving individuals who endured the very small portion of life at Capital One that I have discussed.

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Cons

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Pros

Pay can be decent compared to GovCon. Some people are a pleasure to work with. Other non-pay related incentives.

Cons

Never heard more nonsensical topics during meetings; people sharing their sexual preferences, flaunting overly dramatic personal lifestyle decisions, diversity to the point of failure, etc. Hearing the term "white guilt" in a professional setting was, well, pretty unprofessional. Stack ranking for performance reviews is a mess. Someone has to have an "F" regardless of their performance because that is what their line of business is allotted. Be prepared to be held responsible for actions any Sr Leadership would just sweep under the rug under their own circumstances. If a manager doesn't like you, regardless of your productivity, you're toast unless you're able to find another LoB to support. HR / AR are just a check in the box and will most likely point you from one to the other and back again without resolving any issues. You'll find yourself curious as to what leadership does as they continue to scrape managerial responsibilities from their plate, to yours. Last but certainly not least; you may find yourself working hard on a project; nights and weekends, just in case that work life balance is feeling a little too perfect. Fret not, someone will surely assist in taking credit for the hard work you've put in. I'm sure none of these things will happen to you, though. Best of luck!

5
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