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    American Express Reviews

    Updated 20 October, 2018
    5,896 reviews

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    Full-timePart-time
    3.8
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
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    Stephen J Squeri
    236 Ratings

    5,896 Employee Reviews

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    Pros
    Cons

    • "Work life balance could be poor depending on which department you are in" (in 227 reviews)

    • "Slow decision-making - extremely process driven" (in 120 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "Software Engineer Intern"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Software Engineer in Toronto, ON
      Former Employee - Software Engineer in Toronto, ON
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at American Express (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Great working environment, Nice People

      Cons

      Not much bad to say

    2. "Operation Team Leader"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Operations Team Lead in Ottawa, ON
      Current Employee - Operations Team Lead in Ottawa, ON

      I have been working at American Express full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      I was able to connect directly with clients and direct report

      Cons

      in the last 2 years my direct report where all W@H harder to manage

      3. Join the American Express team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Employee friendly"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      Pros

      Friendly environment and people all around.

      Cons

      You get fired without much consideration if you don't meet your targets

    4. "Quality assurance lead"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at American Express (Less than a year)

      Pros

      You get to experience a lot

      Cons

      Pressure is too Much sometimes

    5. "Customer Care Professional"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at American Express full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Great team and good bonuses

      Cons

      Too much pressure, work evenings and weekends

    6. "Great medical benefits in amex"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at American Express full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Great medical benefits and child care facility on site

      Cons

      too far to commute, not in a convenient location

    7. "Love working at Amex"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Senior Marketing Analyst in Toronto, ON
      Current Employee - Senior Marketing Analyst in Toronto, ON
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at American Express (More than a year)

      Pros

      Great culture with real focus on development and learning

      Cons

      Poor location and non-competitive salary compared to other banks

      Advice to Management

      Improve benefits

    8. "Not bad, a lot of politics"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Manager in Toronto, ON
      Former Employee - Manager in Toronto, ON
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at American Express full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      The ability to move roles frequently meant that work was varied.

      Cons

      Lack of development opportunities meant staff turnover was very high. A lot of office politics prevented things from being done quickly which is expected in a large organisation. Too much focus on making internal change look shiny rather than effective, efficient implementation.

    9. "Its alright"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Senior Manager in Toronto, ON
      Current Employee - Senior Manager in Toronto, ON
      Doesn't Recommend
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at American Express full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      A very strong brand. Lots of flexibility to work from home.

      Cons

      Moving up is slightly difficult if you are not based in the HQ in NYC. Being based in Toronto, opportunities are very rare. If you are a part of the clique with certain senior leaders, then your chances are better than those who are not. Moving up from a starting level analyst level to senior manager might be pretty easy as it can happen as quickly as in 5 years. Moving up beyond that level is a little difficult as the opportunities slow down. If you are an external hire who joined directly as a manager / senior manager, you will have a tough time moving up to the director level since the current management gives preference to those who have been in the company in a variety of roles even though they may have less experience then you do. In a way, the company kind of ignores anything you did prior to joining Amex. In some departments, Canadian employees don't get promoted even if they are very qualified. They end up promoting someone in the US HQ and bringing them to Canada. This really affects the morale of the team. In recent years, there has been a lot of employee attrition as many employees got better opportunities with competitors like Scotia. At the VP level it seems everything is fine as they keep getting broader roles and promotions. Its a case of rich getting richer. Across the entire Canadian business, have only seen one Director getting promoted to a VP role in the last one year.

      Advice to Management

      Think about what I have said under Cons.

    10. "Do not work here!!!"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Travel Counselor
      Former Employee - Travel Counselor
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at American Express full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Overtime Incentive
      Amazing co-workers
      Free hotel stays

      Cons

      Stressful environment
      Unfair and unrealistic statistics and metrics
      The use of the "Recommend to Friend (RTF)" system to measure performance
      Blame assignment for issues beyond your control
      Constant change in policies - hard to keep up!

      Advice to Management

      The premise of the job is fun as it is centered around planing trips and curating itineraries for American Express Platinum card holders. What's not fun is the way in which the Travel Counsellors are treated.
      Much of your performance is judged by the survey responses from card members. If they so much as mention anything negative about the company, or give you a low score because of company policies which you have no hand in whatsoever, you will be penalized. Penalties include but are not limited to:
      - Going on a performance improvement plan
      - Loss of "RTF" bonus where you get a specified amount of money for every "promoter" received. Hundreds of dollars are lost monthly for this reason.
      - Termination should you continue to generate these negative surveys.
      You will feel helpless and threatened as most of the situations that lead to termination and ones that cannot be helped.

      You are also judged on your "Average Handle Time" or AHT. American Express prides itself on maintaining a wealthy customer base, but with wealth comes heavy demands. One very popular demand is that you research flights and hotels for various travel destinations for card members. If you think that because of how popular this request is, that there would be time allotted to complete it, you can think again. You will be hounded for the time spent researching, emailing and communicating with Card Members because it negatively impacts your Handle Time.

      You will be micromanaged, penalized for walkaway time as well as any other thing you can think of. At least 1500 people quit in my 3 and a half years there.

      Do not take this job if you like your sanity.

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