Good Company to Learn General Skills to Grow, Director to Vice President Promotion Difficult - Anonymous employee American Express Employee Review

4.0
Jan 16, 2011
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Large company with a great variety of businesses globally. Good opportunities for lateral moves to learn about different businesses especially at a campus location - New York, Phoenix, London, Singapore, India, etc.. Decent benefits including flexible work schedule with arrangement, time off, and on-site services for those at a campus location.

Cons

Less than satisfactory technology support (outsourced vendor). Many more career opportunities at the Manager, Senior Manager and Director levels than Vice President level. Difficult to get promoted from Director to Vice President due to many current Vice Presidents fighting for the same opening, thereby leaving many "career Directors". Compensation for below Vice President positions generally at or below comparable positions at other companies despite what Human Resources is stating based on their studies. Some business units harbor unique cultures in terms of working late, dress and behave a certain way, and scheduling excessive amounts of meetings. Staff at New York City campus is notorious for being late up to 15 minutes that waiting for 15 minutes is termed "Amex time"!

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5.0
Jun 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Supportive leadership - Collaborative teammates - Internal mobility across different departments is encouraged

Cons

- There can be a lot of red tape, as is the case with any large firm - Role scope expansion is common across teams

3.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Complimentary lunch and starbucks everyday - On-site clinic for basic check ups - Hybrid

Cons

you will be taking phone calls every minute of the day. There will come a time where you feel like at the bottom of the world. You will ask yourself "is my role in life to help people reset their password online and assist them in logging in?" You cannot use the bathroom whenever you want, they have time coding that if you "abuse" them you will be flagged and subject to discipline. You have to give world class service but at the same time rush them off the phone or else you are not getting paid a good bonus. You will quickly find yourself gasping for air and time to relax when you take 50+ calls a day , you will feel drained. When is finally time to move up there is a high chance you will be paid less than you're current role as there are no bonuses in higher roles.

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