American Express reviews

4.1

81% would recommend to a friend

(18,592 total reviews)
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Stephen J Squeri

89% approve of CEO

79% positive business outlook

American Express has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 18,592 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The American Express employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Finanzen industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

19K reviews
4.0
Nov 18, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The number one pro is the people you will work with: Amex attracts people who are not only smart and driven to succeed, but in general are willing to help others along the way. It is a highly collaborative environment - in part this is forced by the matrixed organizational structure, and this can be a negative in that it slows down decision-making, but it is also an outcome of the type of individuals who get hired, and who stick around. Second, while it is a brand-driven company renowned for its advertising, it is a fundamentally sound business with extraordinary attention paid to risk assessment and quantifiable outcomes. If you don't have a finance background or an aptitude for numbers you can certainly get by, but if you can combine quant savvy with creative thinking and influencing skills you will do very well. Management is generally very open to work-life balance needs, and takes employee development and satisfaction extremely seriously. There are exceptions of course, but there are a lot of good people leaders here.

Cons

Performance doesn't always guarantee career success - beyond a certain level - probably Director or above - you need a senior leader acting as your 'champion', to get you in the door and then keep you moving forward. The company tends to dip its toes in cutting edge segments, but when times get tough they are the first to go regardless of their strategic, long-term importance. The need to manage multiple stakeholders for every decision can be frustrating, and often there is no clear 'owner' for a decision.

4.0
Nov 17, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They offer a great flexible work arrangement for my department (which is being rolled out to other departments). After 6 months tenure, they offer us a choice of (a) get half a day off each week if you work an extra hour a day; (b) work an extra hour for 9 days and get the 10th day off; (c) work from home once-a-week. They also have an easy-going corporate culture and an open-door policy with upper management. My VP is open to talking to me whenever I have a problem and does pull me aside when they receive positive feedback, from other managers, regarding my performance.

Cons

The pay is on the low-end compared to similar positions elsewhere, and there are very few, if ever, cost-of-living salary adjustments. People in the NY office tend to eat lunch at their desks everyday instead of actually taking their lunch break. The hours can get long during projects (approx 60 hours a week) but it's usually only for a 2-3 week span every other month. They're also very meeting-centric. I feel that a lot of time is wasted by always having meetings instead of just presenting information or requests directly.

2.0
Nov 10, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Interesting for people who do not want to work hard. There are a lot of women in this company. Very agressive towards men.

Cons

low quality of management both middle and senior poor culture

Viewing 18508 - 18510 of 18,592 Reviews

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