Pros
Been with Amex for over 14 years and I've seen the pros go down, to probably now the lowest points I can mention. Benefits are good except medical, that high deductible plan with HSA, is expensive. Most of the time you will pay out of pocket except if there is a high cost medical procedure or incident. I believe this is where many corporations are headed though. Their severance plan is very good if you are a long time employee. You want to make note of this because the chances of getting laid off are very high. They lay off every year - its common practice - again probably on line with most corporations though. Nothing unique to AMEX.
Cons
Very antiquated Performance Management review. This is probably the core of their problems. It causes lies, deceit, cheating, back stabbing - only promotes individualism and keeps the 'team' spirit down. Be prepared because this is a cancer that is killing the company. It almost killed Microsoft - they got rid of a similar review program. This is why many of the leaders don't really deserve the positions they received - because its all about marketing yourself at the expense of all else. Too many Indians. They lost the way of diversity. I can tell you there are thousands of jobs that could easily go to Americans - especially those out of college. Instead, they recruit the H1B, bring them to the U.S. and many, many of them get converted to employees - at the expense of releasing Americans of their jobs - here in the U.S.