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Washington Mutual
3.0 of 5 309 reviews
www.wamu.com Seattle, WA 5000+ Employees
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Washington Mutual Reviews

Updated Mar 28, 2013

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3.0 309 reviews

                             

41% Approve of the CEO

Washington Mutual Chairman & CEO JP Morgan Chase James Dimon

James Dimon

(22 ratings)

43% of employees recommend this company to a friend
309 employee reviews
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Former Employee – worked at Washington Mutual

ProsThe people were nice to work with

ConsThis company no longer exist

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  • No Opinion of CEO

 

Palo Alto, CA (US)

Former Employee – worked at Washington Mutual full-time for more than a year

ProsDespite some interesting growth opportunities, I'd call it a job and not a career. Decent pay, high turnover. Upper movement determined on office politics rather than merit. But I suppose that's true at many places.

ConsUpper management pushes some questionable growth numbers. Is it possible for a small branch to open 100+ new accounts in a month? Definitely. Are those accounts really needed and necessary in a small community? Probably not.

Advice to Senior ManagementA mission statement should be a mission statement, not a PR device to brainwash employees and consumers alike into thinking poor money management, big fees, and behavior inconsistent with said mission statement.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

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Seattle, WA (US)

Former Employee – worked at Washington Mutual full-time for more than 3 years

ProsI truly enjoyed my time at WaMu. I loved my team and the people I worked with, learned a lot, was challenged by the work I did and liked the company's culture.

ConsGetting shut down by the FDIC and being devoured by JPMorgan was kind of a downer.

Advice to Senior ManagementIgnoring risk and lending out to anybody regardless of whether they can repay the loan isn't really a good business model.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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  • No Opinion of CEO

 

Pleasanton, CA (US)

Former Employee – worked at Washington Mutual full-time for more than 7 years

ProsIt was a nice work environment, coworkers were great.

Constoo much red tape and hard to get point across

Advice to Senior Managementlisten more to your reports.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

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Seattle, WA (US)

Current Employee – been working at Washington Mutual full-time for more than 8 years

ProsGreat people, great benefits, great job.

ConsExtremely poor executive management who destroyed the Bank.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

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Seattle, WA (US)

Former Employee – worked at Washington Mutual full-time for more than a year

ProsGenerally a fair working environment.

ConsLack of integrity at the leadership levels.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

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Seattle, WA (US)

Former Employee – worked at Washington Mutual full-time for more than 10 years

ProsI was in a great group that drove enterprise finance support for the company. We had a lot of synergy and were recognized as subject matter experts in our roles. My manager was demanding but also collaborative and supportive.

ConsShame that so many good people who worked hard were impacted by such a short-sighted risk management strategy.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

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Current Employee – been working at Washington Mutual

ProsGood Working Conditions, Friendly Atmosphere

ConsRenumeration is not that great, Work Life Balance is Poor

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

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Seattle, WA (US)

Former Employee – worked at Washington Mutual full-time for more than 7 years

ProsCareer development
Training opportunities
Fair Recognition and Rewards

ConsOnce you are good in a field they were not encouraging or supportive of switching. Techies were discouraged from going into management for example.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

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Santa Rosa, CA (US)

Current Employee – been working at Washington Mutual full-time for more than 3 years

ProsFocus on work-life balance
Young company, with most employees in the 18-45 age range
Good benefits
Frequent 1:1 meetings with management
Lots of communication

ConsPerformance reviews and expectations not in line with those advertized.
Performance reviews were changed so that the vast majority of employees received a "3" out of 5, which meant doing your job well, but not enough for even a cost of living raise.
Salaries for employees varied widely and sometimes had jumps of up to 50% of base salaries.
Salaries are not in line with corporate standards for areas with higher cost of living.
Frequent micromanagement
No margin for any error, which was, of course impossible, even 97% was not good enough.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

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