• Absolutely abhorrent Performance Management. Employees are rated on a bell curve against other employees at their same level (but often VERY DIFFERENT roles), in a closed meeting called a “Calibration”. 20% need to be ranked at the bottom, regardless of actual performance, so the rating is meaningless. This encourages backstabbing, secrecy, lack of teamwork, and the employees that come out on top are not necessarily better performers, just better liked by the management group, better at self-promotion, or have more visible projects. Also, you will not actually be assessed based on your job description, but on additional projects, no matter how inane or useless, as long as you can convince people that you are “going above and beyond”. If you have a non-assertive manager, or if they don’t like you, forget about doing well on Performance Management.
• Capital One prides itself of being Well-Managed, which couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, there is an abundance of ineffectual middle managers who often do not have the technical skills necessary to lead their teams. Because promotions are rare, managers make lots of lateral moves into roles they have no understanding of. There is zero accountability for poor management, as there are no mechanisms by which direct reports can rate their manager. My current manager basically does nothing all day, taking credit for the work our team does and throwing us under the bus when something goes wrong (often their idea).
• Capital One is increasingly using Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) to protect themselves so they can more easily lay people off. I have seen talented, knowledgeable colleagues get placed on PIPs. I don’t know of anyone who has successfully completed a PIP at Capital One. It is just a convenient off-ramp.
• 2023 has seen massive amounts of layoffs. Some of the people who I have seen get fired are fantastic hard-workers, pregnant colleagues, colleagues who are right smack in the middle of maternity leave, and colleagues who requested a remote accommodation for health reasons. Almost always, they will pretend that these upstanding employees have performance issues in order to fire them. Meanwhile, the CEO sits around at the yearly company meeting simpering about “doing the right thing” and “changing banking for good”. Did I mention he received $27 million in total comp in 2022? (50% bump from 2020)
• There’s a group of "dinosaurs” at Capital One: Employees who have been at Capital One for 20, 25 years. They pretend like it’s a huge accomplishment, when really they are just complacent and scared to get out in the world and move their career forward. They know they are mostly unemployable outside of Capital One, so they protect and cover for one another, while keeping the boot firmly on newer hires.
• Capital One has a non-retaliation policy that is basically just for show. If you criticize anything, from Performance Management to your actual manager, you will be retaliated against. It’s best to keep your mouth shut and your head down. Those are the people who are well-liked by the dinosaurs, and who get ahead (though painstakingly slow).
• Capital One pushes DIB very hard, and again, it’s a lot of fluff but no substance. They will launch huge social media campaigns and decorate the Capital One Cafés, but there is almost no actual diversity. Upper management is mostly all White and predominantly male. Despite what they say, new ideas and innovation are not welcome.
• Associate Relations is there TO PROTECT THE EMPLOYER. It is a horrible idea to resort to them at any point.
• Finally, I have no idea how Capital One is on the Best Places to Work list. Something seems off.
