Pros
(1) Management's attention to work/life balance, especially given our industry and HQ location (NYC), is exceptional. (2) High level of management integrity. (3) Employees can take pride in working for a company that believes in doing right by our customers -- both card members and merchant partners. (4) AmEx also is a good corporate citizen; we do and/or fund a lot of charity work where we are, and around the world. (5) Very female-friendly -- if not at the very top, still, a high number of female executives. Also, maternity policies are very generous.
Cons
(1) Matrixed organization can slow down decision making. (2) The flip side to having so much work/life balance is that the pay does not stack up against other financial services companies, at least not at the middle manager level and down. (3) The cafeteria gets old fast, and there aren't that many other good food options in the World Financial Center.