Open culture mentality is a farce, political - Senior Project Manager Capital One Employee Review

The culture is very political and all about how well you play the game. If played exceptionally well you will go far. Your work does not speak for itself, your ability to play does. This is evident in the performance review process. The fact that you've successfully done your job well can still lead to an "inconstant" (below expectations) or "strong" (which is average and most common) rating. The rating is determined in management calibration sessions which rate your performance against everyone else at your same level (not job title). So if someone at your level has gone above and beyond (which always occurs), this then creates the standard for which you should've followed. This makes it impossible to set goals and be confident that if you've met them you've performed well, since you are ranked against your peers not against goals set by you and your manager. And these are peers in various states and locations so you more than likely will not even be aware of what others are doing. This process leads to less teamwork and knowledge sharing and more individualism. As with most companies, your direct manager can make or break your experience. There are good managers, however, there are a lot of managers who are self serving and not supportive. With the numerous mergers and acquisitions, the company looks at the acquired employees as inferior and their opinions and recommendations based on experience is not welcomed. Conform or else. The "Best Company to Work For" ranking is questionable. I've never met an employee who felt that strongly. Advancement is contingent on the above and can be limited or non-existent. Job security is non-existent constant acquisitions and reorganization creates rolling lay-offs. New to the banking industry, but not willing to learn. Lots of federal compliance violations exist (but not widely discussed). Technology is lacking and in some ways is less than the industry standard.