Great company; poor, tone-deaf move back to office - KYC Analyst Discover Employee Review

2.0
Mar 16, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people, work, pay and PTO are fantastic at discover.

Cons

The biggest downside is the recent announcement of moving back to the office a mandatory minimum 3 days/week for those in the Chicago & Houston metro areas. The delivery was tone-deaf and does not live up to Discover’s supposed Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DE&I) standards. Most of all it is not equitable as it punishes those who stayed within the area as their approach going forward states that none of the previously upheld Flexible Work Arrangements would be honored. Additionally it hinders the work/life balance, which they used to say was a big priority. All of this for supposed “collaboration”. When half of a given team is remote, how this promotes collaboration is a mystery. The message is clear: they have large buildings which aren’t being used. In order to make sure they aren’t losing money on an empty building they own then they’ll force people to change their lives and how they’ve adapted over the past 3 years, regardless of family/pet care or current life situation to ensure their parking lots are overflowing and there isn’t enough desk space for everyone on any given day - as was the issue before the pandemic.

Explore other reviews about Discover

5.0
May 12, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Discover was an amazing company

Cons

Post merger, it’s not the same vibe. Most of us are miserable.

5.0
Mar 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

One of the most significant advantages of interning at Discover is the opportunity to work with massive, high-stakes financial datasets within a highly collaborative and mentorship-driven culture. Because the company manages millions of consumer accounts, you gain direct experience in how data-driven decisions impact risk management, credit modeling, and fraud detection in real time. The environment is known for being supportive of early-career professionals, offering structured learning paths and exposure to modern cloud-native infrastructures like AWS. Furthermore, the company’s strong focus on work-life balance and a clear pipeline for converting interns to full-time roles makes it an excellent "foot in the door" for anyone looking to build a career in fintech.

Cons

On the other hand, the primary drawback often stems from the inherent bureaucracy and heavy regulation of the banking industry, which can lead to slower project lifecycles and "red tape." You may find that a significant portion of your time is spent on repetitive data cleaning and maintaining legacy reporting systems rather than building the cutting-edge predictive models you might expect. Additionally, because Discover is a massive organization, your scope of work can sometimes feel siloed, making it difficult to see the end-to-end impact of your analysis across different departments. Finally, the current landscape of the industry means that internal shifts or large-scale corporate restructuring can occasionally lead to uncertainty regarding team directions or long-term project stability.

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