Guilded cage of smoke and mirror - do not get fooled - Anonymous employee Capital One Employee Review

1.0
21 Nov 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great offices Lots of food and snacks Working with very smart colleagues encourage you to challenge yourself and think outside the box Benefits (time off, paternity/maternity leave, sick time, wfh) are pretty good, except for medical - copayments are too high or you pay too much per month to avoid those astronomical copayments.

Cons

1. Never trust what your manager says at face value. Always send meeting notes after each meeting as they insist on having conference calls vs written documentation to play the 'he said, she said' game. When there is a clear lie, they claim to have a 'miscommunication' and the employee might have 'misunderstood what his/her supervisor said' 2. Performance management - rating your employees against each other is creating a civil war to survive. 3. Personality, gender, race and position matters - if you are an introvert, female, not white and a position and/or team that are deemed as "non-essential", you will be first in the list to be discarded when there is a re-org. 4. It is basically a big high school run by "popular" people, Capital One is *huge* on politics. If you do not play that game, you are toast. 5. Your future and advancement in this company depends on your supervisor. If you are not his/her favorite, watch out. 6. More on performance review - there are no clear standards on what is expected of you in your role. It depends on which LOB you are in, the team you are part of and unknown expectations of the current VP of your department. 7. Perceptions are everything, actual results mean nothing. Your performance is measured based on reviews by your team members and colleagues. If somebody does not like you because they just don't or because you are doing your job and they do not like being called out, it is a red X in your credibility. Recovering from that is pretty much impossible. 8. Directors are too involved in the individual team dynamics. They use their authority to override roles, responsibilities and impose their wishes. You do what they ask for blindly or you will be in trouble, despite forcing you to go against the responsibilities of your role. 9. Lack of accountability in management for their decisions. If something goes wrong, they will blame someone else for the lack of results in order to avoid the blame and consequences. 10. Recognition for a job well done depends on what kind of project you are allocated to. If it is a "we need to work on it to survive in the industry", forget about it. You will be taken for granted. If it is "we are working on it to differentiate ourselves and break new grounds in the industry", you will be the star, no matter how well or bad the project is moving along. 11. 2-4 reorgs a year are clearly not needed as they create chaos. It takes months to recover from a reorg and then a new reorg is announced. 12. Employees can be treated like thieves when they are let go. There is no need to have a security guard shadow a good standing respectful employee when he/she is let go - while the employee cleans his/her desk, returns the laptop and badge and is walked out the door- No, it did not happen to me, I know what you are thinking ;) Treat people with respect.

Explore other reviews about Capital One

5.0
7 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Excellent benefits Great community, major opportunities for growth

Cons

The training process can be challenging due to the volume of information and the absence of a dedicated trainer, though the team is supportive and committed to helping new employees succeed.

1.0
1 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

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!

4
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All