Used to be a great place to work - Anonymous employee Capital One Employee Review

3.0
17 Aug 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The new HQ in Tysons looks amazing (like an actual tech office) and certain locations like Richmond have actual campuses. • Decent 401k match, health/dental/vision • Lots of empowerment when it comes to leading the work • Impactful work – everyone genuinely come in quite motivated If you land yourself with a good team, you can find Capital One to be quite amazing.

Cons

After making it onto the list of top companies to work for, we saw our budget, snacks, and office perks pretty much cut overnight. NY office saw one snack each day disappear and never restocked again. We went from fully stocked draws to pretty much nothing but Reeses cups. Some of the Virginia offices saw snacks completely disappear. What kind of company advertise themselves as a 'tech company' without free food? Meeting rooms have become non existent as senior leadership began making their own personal offices. Management have become less and less visible, and the new hires have become more and more like those of traditional / irrelevant companies. The once young and fresh vibe is disappearing, and the company is now filled with people who came from failed startups and places like Barnes and Nobles. Capital One just can't compete with new tech talent, and they simply cannot offer high enough compensation. Educational benefits are lost, and promotions feels incredibly biased. Individual contributor work is not recognized. There is lots of talk about doing things but nothing ever gets done. Bureaucracy is endless and only getting worst as we bring in the more older and traditional way of management. Work culture can be a hit or miss. You can work late or you can have nothing to do at all. Two years ago, Capital One had an amazing work life balance. Today, not so much. Vacations are tracked like hawks and you cannot take a vacation without somebody calling your personal phone. The moral is extremely low. People are dropping like flies, and there haven't been a single day without another 'Goodbye' email.

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Pros

Great rotational opportunities to gain exposure to a variety of business problems

Cons

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Pros

Pay can be decent compared to GovCon. Some people are a pleasure to work with. Other non-pay related incentives.

Cons

Never heard more nonsensical topics during meetings; people sharing their sexual preferences, flaunting overly dramatic personal lifestyle decisions, diversity to the point of failure, etc. Hearing the term "white guilt" in a professional setting was, well, pretty unprofessional. Stack ranking for performance reviews is a mess. Someone has to have an "F" regardless of their performance because that is what their line of business is allotted. Be prepared to be held responsible for actions any Sr Leadership would just sweep under the rug under their own circumstances. If a manager doesn't like you, regardless of your productivity, you're toast unless you're able to find another LoB to support. HR / AR are just a check in the box and will most likely point you from one to the other and back again without resolving any issues. You'll find yourself curious as to what leadership does as they continue to scrape managerial responsibilities from their plate, to yours. Last but certainly not least; you may find yourself working hard on a project; nights and weekends, just in case that work life balance is feeling a little too perfect. Fret not, someone will surely assist in taking credit for the hard work you've put in. I'm sure none of these things will happen to you, though. Best of luck!

3
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