Would never recommend a friend or family member to work at Visa - Anonymous employee Visa Inc. Employee Review

1.0
5 Dec 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Well-known brand, good salary in California

Cons

I could go on forever if I could, especially regarding the Technology organization. Middle and upper management are awful. They only care about themselves/their professional agenda and have no clue how to manage downwards. Some managers should not even be allowed to have direct reports considering how awful they treat their staff. There is no such thing as work/life balance and employees only show up for a paycheck. People look miserable everywhere and are afraid they will get laid off at a moment's notice. The last couple months, Visa laid off 800+ people and there was no sympathy from the managers and VPs. HR is also the absolute worst. When I was interviewing and in the hiring process, they lost all of my information, emailed me with the wrong name, and I had to reach out to them before they reached out to me. The compensation/promotion process is also done very poorly. You cannot get promoted unless all of the upper management in your group knows your name and you have an "in." Also, in this last Annual Employee Survey, the statistics for "would you recommend a friend or family member to work at Visa" and "are you currently looking for another job" were astounding. Visa should be ashamed of those numbers and realize that employees are so unhappy. Before you are blinded by the high salary and popular brand, take a look at the Glassdoor reviews on, the majority of which are negative but completely accurate.

Explore other reviews about Visa Inc.

5.0
23 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Agile for its size and age

Cons

Difficult industry to navigate. New competition.

2.0
25 Jun 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Excellent work-life balance, strong 401(k) match, and generally good benefits. There are smart, hardworking people across the company from all walks of life, and the Visa name still carries weight on a resume.

Cons

The work-life balance comes with a tradeoff: innovation moves at a glacial pace. In my experience, Visa was a highly political organization where visibility and relationships often mattered more than performance. Career growth felt slow, especially for high-performing mid-career employees looking to expand their scope or take ownership. There was constant organizational churn. In two years, I had three managers and made it through multiple reorgs, but our entire team lived in constant fear of ongoing layoffs. Layoffs and restructuring felt far more common than leadership acknowledged, which created a disconnect between company messaging and employee reality. The lack of trust for executive leadership is readily apparent across all internal channels. My org was not particularly valued, compensation lagged the market, and the return-to-office rollout was/continues to be handled poorly and rigidly. If you're looking for stability, predictable work, and reasonable hours, Visa can be a good fit. If you're a high performer looking for speed, creativity, ownership, and growth, there are better places to spend your time (and your paycheck will probably be higher).

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