-The company is the definition of bureaucratic. Outdated technology is finally being addressed, but is still far away from being implemented
-Salaries are low compared to competitors (traditional banks and Fin Techs). Bonuses are insultingly low given the level of work/responsibilities for Pricing. Bonus Targets were increased slightly, but still far off from where they should be. Business Development constantly relies on Pricing to get deals done, yet we do not share in any of the upside they receive. HR is adamant they constantly monitor the market to remain competitive on compensation, but all their announced initiatives have done nothing to address the compensation gap
-Career advancement is a complete black hole. Promotion timelines are unclear and undefined. HR has promised they are looking to address this, but I do not have high hopes
-For 2022, the company only gave out 3% raises. While this may seem like a normal amount, it is insulting considering the company had a record year in 2021 and inflation was at its highest level since the 1980s
-The promotion process is extremely unfair and stacked against newer employees
-Communication from certain groups (especially Sales/Business Development) are often unclear and delayed, which creates unnecessarily tight deadlines and often require major revisions to the work product. There is a clear disconnect between Finance and Business Development that creates unnecessary tension and it does not appear that senior leaders are willing to actually address this issue
-The work can be very repetitive as senior leaders will ask for countless iterations on work products to arrive at attractive returns, even if it means submitting uncompetitive bids
-The company goes through re-orgs what seems like every year, creating uncertainty in some groups and constantly shifting the leadership structure of others
-The company has no clue what to do with Bread Pay and post-merger integration pains are continuing with no end in sight
-The Bread Financial and Alliance Data brand names carry very little weight. This can make things difficult when applying to jobs at different companies as most people have no clue what Alliance Data is or does (and they definitely don’t know what Bread Financial is)
-The company is fixated on controlling costs, which has led to reduced hiring as a way to not increase personnel expenses. As a result, employees are expected to take on a larger workload given the overly aggressive growth expectations communicated by executives, yet compensation remains relatively unchanged. The CFO was asked about compensation during a company-wide meeting and had a very negative reaction to being asked such a question, not a very promising sign…
-Median employee salary increased 18% from 2020 to 2021, yet merit raises were only 3% It appears leadership is more than willing to pay for external talent, but remains stingy with internal talent