American Express

Having the company name on a resume carries some weight.

Might be a great first job if you are willing to take below-market rates.

A veritable smorgasbord for any workaholic.

Broad range of exposure to technology.

Let me first state this is not a complaint against the company, American Express. I do want to 'tell it like it is' for any starry-eyed job seeker thinking to venture into the work environment.

AXP is everything you would expect in a shrinking workforce, full of desperate hangers-on trying to compete with everyone around them in order to position themselves to avoid getting laid off as the stock and company spiral.

The H1B visa program is used to the maximum to displace long-term, competent, and dedicated employees to satisfy short-term financial goals. Do not plan to retire there.

There is a "rank 'em and yank 'em" mentality, where excellent, invaluable employees are being let go because they have to make excuses to get rid of people to save money. I think ENRON invented that process, and we all know what happened to them.

This 'culture change' AXP is embarking on is simply a barefaced outsourcing program, which is bringing people into the US on the visa program. This would not be so bad if the people they hired had talent, but most only have one major attribute: being cheap.

This 'financial engineering' is akin to giving yourself cancer to lose weight, or a surgeon removing vital organs and replacing them with newspaper stuffing.

Many people over the last decade, with the sharpest skills and inventive minds that covered lots of critical capability, and those recently laid-off engineers with talent, immediately end up working for competitors, which are undeniably now 'eating Amex's lunch' all thanks to the ingenious employee-shedding practices AXP engages in.

Yet AXP leadership is bewildered why they are facing headwinds.

If you are an exempt salaried employee, to compete and fight to stay on, expect to wake up around 6:30 am and immediately start reading email. The conference calls begin at the same time you are supposed to be getting your kids ready for and taking them to school.

Meanwhile, the company touts 'work-life balance' and 'family values.' But you don't get angry about that because, wisely, you instead save your energy, because you know you will need it for the frequent after-hours work that you get to perform from home, dialed in with your laptop, with no overtime pay.

Saturday became a regular workday, and all of it was absolutely thankless, just expected. Directors have it even worse, with Blackberry pages and calls around the clock.

AXP offers a generous 2+ weeks of vacation, but do the math: you will work two weeks of OT during your first month there and will continue to provide OT every month for the remainder of your dubious tenure.

There is pressure for innovation, which on its face is an admirable and desirable goal, but what it originates from is the desperation from the top leaders in the company to somehow find an 'Uber-like' magical fix to recover ground to competitors.

CEO Ken Chenault is a charismatic soothsayer who tries to spin a reality distortion field around how he is taking AXP to successful new levels with innovation. But the only true reality is that he is responsible for delivering poor company results. Everyone who can read financial news articles knows what's up. How many major deals must be lost before Chenault is held to account? Advice? Start with a new CEO to try and save the brand.