Bread Financial Reviews

Pros

I've been in a professional working environment for 10 years and this is the first employer who really "sees me." The company helps me achieve what's important to me, counts on me to provide my expertise, both listens and makes me feel heard, includes me in company strategy, and cares enough to recognize successes (big and small) along the way. This sound a little weird... but I'm often shocked at how kind and approachable my colleagues are here, across all teams. Time and distance don't seem to matter -- everyone here is ready to hop on an MS Teams call to talk, explain, or show you how to do something. I'm very grateful to find a place where I feel I can be the professional I've been preparing to be for 10 years. I have arrived!!

Cons

My only con to share would be that there are some opportunities in the delivery of IT Hardware and equipment. I needed some extra support in setting everything up and the Help Desk came through... a little extra directions could have been helpful. The Help Desk team has been great about getting me everything I need -- from a conference call "puck", a fancy webcam, dual monitors, etc.

Pros

Culture, Learning Opportunities, Work life balance, Benefits,

Cons

Nothing specific to say, all good

Pros

people and salary for the most part

Cons

no career advancement plan for junior staff

Pros

Overall a great place to work if you are patient and can flex when it gets busy. Good FTO benefits etc.

Cons

Can be high pressure depending on where you are positioned.

Pros

-The people I worked with were nice and easy to get along with for the most part -Hours and Work Life Balance are typically good, but there are some exceptions (see cons for more detail) -Internal mobility is highly encouraged (and often the only way to be promoted) -Good benefits (a huge focal point of management, often at the expense of compensation though) -Easy to stand out as a top performer (but that is not guaranteed to be rewarded) -A lot of opportunities to take on tasks/responsibilities outside the scope of your role (but once again, you are not guaranteed to be rewarded for doing so) -The work itself is interesting. Credit Cards is a niche industry with a lot of unique nuances

Cons

-The company is the definition of bureaucratic. Outdated technology is finally being addressed, but is still far away from being implemented -Salaries are low compared to competitors (traditional banks and Fin Techs). Bonuses are insultingly low given the level of work/responsibilities for Pricing. Bonus Targets were increased slightly, but still far off from where they should be. Business Development constantly relies on Pricing to get deals done, yet we do not share in any of the upside they receive. HR is adamant they constantly monitor the market to remain competitive on compensation, but all their announced initiatives have done nothing to address the compensation gap -Career advancement is a complete black hole. Promotion timelines are unclear and undefined. HR has promised they are looking to address this, but I do not have high hopes -For 2022, the company only gave out 3% raises. While this may seem like a normal amount, it is insulting considering the company had a record year in 2021 and inflation was at its highest level since the 1980s -The promotion process is extremely unfair and stacked against newer employees -Communication from certain groups (especially Sales/Business Development) are often unclear and delayed, which creates unnecessarily tight deadlines and often require major revisions to the work product. There is a clear disconnect between Finance and Business Development that creates unnecessary tension and it does not appear that senior leaders are willing to actually address this issue -The work can be very repetitive as senior leaders will ask for countless iterations on work products to arrive at attractive returns, even if it means submitting uncompetitive bids -The company goes through re-orgs what seems like every year, creating uncertainty in some groups and constantly shifting the leadership structure of others -The company has no clue what to do with Bread Pay and post-merger integration pains are continuing with no end in sight -The Bread Financial and Alliance Data brand names carry very little weight. This can make things difficult when applying to jobs at different companies as most people have no clue what Alliance Data is or does (and they definitely don’t know what Bread Financial is) -The company is fixated on controlling costs, which has led to reduced hiring as a way to not increase personnel expenses. As a result, employees are expected to take on a larger workload given the overly aggressive growth expectations communicated by executives, yet compensation remains relatively unchanged. The CFO was asked about compensation during a company-wide meeting and had a very negative reaction to being asked such a question, not a very promising sign… -Median employee salary increased 18% from 2020 to 2021, yet merit raises were only 3% It appears leadership is more than willing to pay for external talent, but remains stingy with internal talent

Pros

I am very pleased with our continuously improving benefit options, ability to work remotely and the addition of 3 more paid holidays. The culture here just keeps getting better and better! I am excited and proud that we have stepped up our tech game, and since our recent rebranding, are now a more "tech-forward" thinking company.

Cons

No cons currently. Our leaders are always thinking ahead and doing what needs to be done in order to remain competitive in the market.