Misalignment across goals and actions; serious issues with undervaluing employees
Pros
Visa is a very strong brand, and I’m extremely proud to work for the company. There are definitely some strong and extremely capable managers who empower their employees and act in a fair and non-political manner. Some managers offer benefits to their employees, i.e. allowing them to work from home or remotely, and providing mobile phones.
Cons
Issues with Managers: There are managers who engage in horrible behavior, whether it be publically shaming employees, blatant disrespect to direct reports, to the point where it becomes bullying, or overworking employees, and there is no way for employees to seek help. Some managers literally lead by fear, and are rewarded because their direct reports deliver strong work. There is one employee engagement survey done annually, and seldom does anything happen to managers who receive bad ratings. When it comes time for compensation, 360 reviews are not considered, so managers are not incentivized to treat their direct reports like actual people. There are also no people management classes for managers, so those who receive poor ratings on the engagement review don’t have any training or repercussions to their poor performance. Emphasis on Millennials: For a company that preaches an increased interest in recruiting millennials, there is absolutely no surveying or monitoring of millennials who recently joined Visa, with the exception of the New Graduate Development Program. As a new graduate who returned following a fantastic internship experience, I have had absolutely no external support from HR in terms of providing me with a mentor, offering any type of training beyond the normal 3-hour onboarding program, or any type of check-in about the transition from internship to full-time positions. They worked very hard to recruit us to come back full-time, but have made no effort to help facilitate, or even gain insights into, our transition into life at Visa. Many older employees feel as though the company is catering solely to young people, but this is just not the case in my experience. If you care about millennials and attracting young talent, act like it. It’s extremely frustrating to have been recruited so heavily and then ignored upon arrival at the company and in addition, to listen to leadership talk about how Visa is a great place to young people to work and how they want to recruit young talent. Need to Align Company Goals with Practices: Visa claims to be a tech company, and have a “think like a startup” mentality—this is an absolute joke. It’s far too political and corporate to be a tech company, and cares much too little about employees to be a startup. It’s one thing to preach in all hands that you care about employees, but it’s another thing altogether to actually show that you value your employees. There is so much emphasis on the “employer of choice” pillar, but nothing really behind it. Morale on some teams is very, very low, and not only is nothing being done, but nobody seems to really care. Inconsistent Policies: The standards for several policies are wildly inconsistent across and even within functional departments; specifically, work from home (WFH), working remotely, and mobile phones. Within the same function, there will be teams with extremely different WFH/work remote policies, and the same is true for mobile phones. Some managers allow WFH with little to no notice, while some restrict the practice entirely. The BYOD program allows people to use their personal phones for work, but many teams allow employees to use a phone that Visa pays for in order to have constant access to email. There is no standard for any of these policies, and it is entirely up to manager discretion.
