Pros
work life balance, people are generally very nice. We're committed to making a positive contribution to our customers' lives by delivering outstanding products and premier service. Our employees work together as a team to meet the needs of American Express customers and grow our business. In turn, we value our employees, encourage their career development and reward their performance. People from many backgrounds and cultures have joined together to become our talented team of professionals. On this site, our employees talk about what it means to work at American Express. Browse a bit, and you'll get a pretty good idea of what life is like at American Express. We have a long history of philanthropy around the world. American Express supports hundreds of nonprofit organizations each year, with grants supporting projects in community service, cultural heritage, and leadership.
Kontras
salary is lower than some competitive firms; progression up the ladder is slow. American Express on Thursday became the latest iconic American firm to announce major layoffs triggered by the worst economic crisis in seven decades, unveiling plans to slash 7,000 employees. Highlighting that even some of the most creditworthy and wealthiest Americans are having trouble paying their bills, American Express said that it is cutting 10% of its staff, suspending management salary increases and instituting a hiring freeze. See related MarketWatch First Take commentary. American Express, a component in the Dow Jones Industrial average, is following moves by other major firms like Hewlett Packard, Goldman Sachs, Whirlpool, and Yahoo, which have all recently announced layoffs of 5% to 10% of their staff. So far this month, Goldman has said it would cut 3,200 jobs, Whirlpool dropped the axe on 5,000 staff, Yahoo cut 1,000 positions, and Hewlett unveiled a stunning 24,000 job losses. And, while full details are unclear, analysts at Keefe Bruyette & Woods said earlier this week that probably about half of Lehman Brothers worldwide staff of about 26,000 employees, 10,000 of whom are inside the U.S., would lose their jobs after the company went bankrupt earlier this year. Barclays has acquired Lehman's U.S. brokerage business, and Nomura acquired parts of Lehman's Europe and Asia operations.