Deteriorating culture, low pay - Associate Consultant Mastercard Employee Review

2.0
Jul 16, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work life balance, 30 days of PTO, work from elsewhere benefit

Cons

Most people (especially juniors) are dissatisfied with the company and are looking to leave. Even with a "non-hierarchical" culture, it is apparent they don't care about the junior employees. The institutional knowledge is incredibly weak, especially for Test & Learn. With all the new changes, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Mastercard Way rules seems to apply only to those below a certain level. Promotion cycles have slowed down dramatically, and they provided a BS reason to justify it, and basically told us to suck it up. With no added benefits and increases lower than the inflation rate, people understandably don't see a reason to stay. They claim they have high standards for promotion when in fact most of my current managers don't seem to have those standards themselves. They started to tell us that meeting the progress score only "qualifies you for promotion, and doesn't guarantee it". The management also blamed its junior for expecting to be promoted within a timeframe because "they did not promise that when we joined". The culture is overall deteriorating with nothing to justify it, pay below industry for what the work requires. The management is looking to cut costs anywhere and everywhere, even at the expense of employees. It has also come to my attention that they reduced the cadence of employee surveys, and didn't share the full results of the ones they conducted. They praise themselves for being on the Best Employees list, when if fact MC is ranked #63 while Visa is #49, American Express is #4, and Capital One is #15.

Explore other reviews about Mastercard

5.0
Jun 23, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

People are highly intelligent and things seem to operate efficiently

Cons

Large ship so changes are hard to make

4.0
May 27, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Mastercard does a great job fostering an inclusive and supportive environment. There are genuinely good people throughout the organization, and leadership often invests in employee engagement through events, recognition, and culture-building initiatives. I enjoyed many of the relationships I built while working there, and there are teams that truly care about collaboration and supporting one another.

Cons

Compensation at the director level did not feel competitive compared to the level of responsibility expected. Career advancement can also be extremely challenging due to how top-heavy the organization is with senior leadership roles. There are a large number of Senior Vice Presidents, sometimes without clear scope or experience aligned to the title, which creates limited room for high-performing employees to grow. At times, it felt like senior leaders were being hired primarily to manage or communicate with other senior leaders, rather than drive meaningful operational impact. In product and go-to-market roles especially, priorities are often heavily driven by funding decisions. It can be frustrating when projects suddenly shift in importance or remain underfunded for long periods of time while awaiting senior leadership review. This sometimes leaves highly talented employees in limbo, unable to move initiatives forward despite strong momentum or market opportunity. The organization can also be very comfortable with the status quo, which creates a slower pace that many employees seem accustomed to. For people who are highly motivated and eager to drive change, it can feel difficult to navigate the number of roadblocks and layers of approval required to move initiatives forward.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All