Capital One reviews

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Richard D. Fairbank

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13K reviews
1.0
Feb 7, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Healthcare premiums are very low for solid coverage. -The west creek campus is absurdly nice. It has all of the following: -4 coffee shops: Peets, DD, and i think 2 starbucks -A legit bakery -3 state of the art cafeterias that make 5 star restaurant quality food -a walgreens pharmacy that's ridiculous cheap -a fitness center -a team of maybe 10 doctors on site that you can visit for any reason during any time of the day with no co-pay, -a PT center also staffed with doctors -an entire room for froyo -treats pretty much everywhere (every floor of every building has a very reasonable for purchase snack bar) -basketballs courts -tennis courts -bikes everywhere to get around campus -a fedex office where you can get next day AM delivery on personal packages for about $6

Cons

Unfortunately, all of the above is meaningless because Capital One's performance management system is an unmitigated disaster. I could write a book about how horrible it is, but I'll try and condense everything below. (I WISH I KNEW THIS BEFORE I CAME TO CAP ONE. PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY) 1) At capital one there's an assumption that the level you came in at is the absolute highest that you could have, and once you start, nothing you did before capital one matters. 2) You will stay at your current level unless you kiss up to your manager because vertical movement at Cap One is seriously messed up. The ONLY WAY to get a role at a higher level is to get promoted by your current manager, which is very hard, or to find a role at the next level and humbly ask the posting manager if he/she would consider you for the role even if it's above your level. The posting manger will then snoop around and go to your current manager. If your manager doesn't tell this manager that you were on the promotion track you won't get the higher role. Period, end of story. You will not move up unless your current manager loves you. The assumption is that all movement is horizontal. Promotion is the only way up. (To get around this a lot of people leave the company and come back at higher levels. DO NOT come here lower than you think you're worth. It's not worth your time. Hold out for the higher role) 3) Your colleagues who've been with the company longer than you understand the culture and you will suffer because of it. They know that you're the sucker for trying to get stuff done while they spend all day brown nosing with your manager and accomplishing nothing. They will get promoted and rewarded at year end and you will get the "inconsistent rating." If you don't "shape up" and drink the kool-aid you will be pushed out. If your "poor behavior" continues you will be shown the door. 4) You get pushed out by being given this "inconsistent" rating that has no grounding in reality. When this happens you can't apply to any other roles until you've sufficiently kissed up to your manager who then raises your rating. Don't like brown nosing? Too bad, it's your only way out. Please direct yourself back to point #3. Really don't like brown nosing? Too too bad, direct yourself back to point #3 twice and then find the door. Try and fight your managers rating? Too bad, you're going to lose and then your manager is really really going to hate you. You're never getting out of inconsistent and we're beyond point #3 at this point. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. 5) Influence not achievements, just remember that. "Influence" at cap one is simply "justification for accomplishing nothing while still feeling good about oneself." You can't make this stuff up. Try running a department where every decision requires unanimous agreement from all stakeholders. Want to see how this works (or doesn't)? Work for Cap One. Do you dare have an opinion? Please direct yourself back to point #3 6) Cap One is filled with managers who've been with the company since the earth cooled. They will force-feed you the kool-aid. Direct yourself back to point#3 if you have a conscience or morals. 7) Calibration... Oh I havent even gotten here yet and I'm already 7 points down. At end of year you're ranked amongst your peers and given a year end rating. Did you drink the kool-aid and were you buddy buddy with your manager? Congrats, you'll be fine. You're a high-strong to exceptional. Did you challenge the status quo and question unethical decisions made by peers and managers? Direct yourself to back to point #3 please. No, really, back to point #3. Cap One doesn't actually care about "doing the right thing" or "acting ethically." 8) Ok i'm actually just getting started but I'll stop here. When in doubt, go back to point #3

1.0
Mar 20, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- There’s a wonderful support group of former employees to help you recover from the extreme mental distress you endure while working here. - Your first month or two will be great (just look at the good reviews; every one of them are from new employees that are begged to write reviews before they realize how awful this place is). However, once you get used to wearing jeans, using a MacBook Pro, and standing at your desk, you’ll start to realize the disastrous decision you made to join this place.

Cons

Capital One Canada is a toxic workplace filled with passive-aggressive, hypocritical, egotistical, and pathological liars. In general, it’s filled with a few types of people- 1- People that want to wear jeans to work and say they work in an “agile” open-office environment, but aren’t capable or smart enough to work at a real technology company. 2- Entitled and spoiled fresh university grads that are paid well above market rate to sell their souls to a successful American company with a dying Canadian division. (These people are half your age with a quarter of the experience, but they passed an antiquated business case interview, therefore they’ll be your manager). 3- People that have been there for years, and can’t work anywhere else because they’re now incapable of delivering real value to an actual company that cares about growing in Canada. 4- American or British “expats” on lucrative packages to come in, run the Canadian division into the ground, and crush the spirits of every Canadian working there.

2.0
Nov 6, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I am a 15 year IT associate at Capital One in Richmond. The Pros of working for this company include decent pay, good benefits and, recently, exposure to current technologies. The best benefit of working at Capital One is the fairly generous vacation package; I receive 4 weeks of vacation with the option to buy an additional week for a small price.

Cons

My recent experiences (last 3 years) in Capital One IT have been very unpleasant. Firstly, the culture at Capital One is competitive, nervous and fearful. The primary reason for the horrible atmosphere is the Forced Distribution performance management practice. Capita One shoe horns associates into performance ratings with 15-20% receiving bad rating. As you might imagine in a corporate setting as this the decisions on who receives what rating is highly political. While I have never received a bad rating in 15 years I rarely am acknowledged for the excellent work I produce and have only received above average ratings in years where I expressed displeasure in previous ratings. So courtesy of the horrible performance management practices, what you end up with is a group of nervous, scared associates who are afraid of receiving bad ratings or perhaps even losing their jobs. The response to that by many associates is to work over 60 hour work weeks and rarely take vacation out of fear. Most associates fall into this category. I'm always saddened to see fellow associates needlessly work long hours and send emails around midnight out of fear. It's really sad and super commonplace. The culture is horrible. Plus, the fear of layoffs is never far away. Management at Capital One is horrendous. The typical Capital One middle manager is compromised, scared and a sellout. These poor folks sit together in conference rooms two times a year "cross calibrating" their associates in an effort to determine who gets screwed with a bad rating. It is awful. Capital One has a ton of strong associates; only about 5% in IT are truly bad so these managers try to convince each other and their associates (keeping in mind the 15-20% bad rating forced distribution) that somehow Associate A who is a great worker and nice person should be told they suck for the year. There is NO work life balance in Capital One IT. It is not because there is so much work; it is because there is so much fear. A truly horrendous place to work.

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