Micromanaged Surveillance State - Manager Ally Financial Employee Review

1.0
Oct 12, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Ally sponsors the Charlotte FC team

Cons

Some of the joys (sarcasm) of working at Ally include: 1. The Ally Charlotte Center is akin to working in a fishbowl. All of the desks face internal offices with your backs to the world outside. Guess who sits at the internal offices? Your team lead. So therefore you get to be at actual eye level with your boss every day and they get to watch your every move day in and day out. Fun right? 2. The forced 4 day RTO is not only unnecessary but also has absolutely obliterated team morale. Everyone is miserable. 3. You will be micromanaged to death. Instead of being able to leave when you’re done with work for the day, team leads are instituting “face time” requirements that basically force you to sit in your seat until your 9 hour work day is up (you can either work in offices hours of 7-4, 8-5, or 9-6 in corporate.) So much for that flexibility they promised! 4. You’re being monitored all day. Badge swipes? Logged. Knowing when you arrive; when you get coffee throughout the day; when you go to the bathroom? Noted by your team lead. How many clicks you do in a day? Tracked. It’s a big brother environment. 5. Career progression is unreasonably slow. It’s regular to see people stuck as analysts for like a decade! That’s not normal in banking. 6. It’s been said here in other reviews but the compensation is brutal. I didn’t realize how low it was until I started talking to friends in similar positions at bigger banks. In these tough economic times “culture” (which is horrible by the way) will not keep employees around if they’re getting paid half of what other banks would pay them. Last thing I’ll say is what a colossal disappointment Ally has become in the past few months. I’ve never seen a senior executive lose so much respect across the board so quickly as I have the CCO. He used to truly have the respect of most of our department but his decision to unilaterally force us into 4 day RTO has absolutely decimated the culture in our department. You can feel it as soon as you step off the elevator on our floor. The air is heavy, and the attitude has changed from one of collegiality to one of bitterness, extreme distrust, and apathy. Is that how we “Do it Right?”

Explore other reviews about Ally Financial

5.0
Jul 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great culture, good compensation and benefits. Excellent management team, very supportive and interactive with the team.

Cons

Onboarding was a challenge due to IT’s lack of clear direction. The loan origination system crashes a lot.

2.0
Jun 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Hybrid schedule is reasonable, with only three days a week required in office. Benefits are decent and we have a fairly new office building is a nice.

Cons

Don’t be fooled by Glassdoor’s rating. It likely reflects the old Ally, not the company it is today. Ally used to be a great place to work, with strong culture, meaningful work, and real innovation. They used to pride themselves on culture, and now it’s the worst I’ve seen it. There have been significant leadership changes, with many of the leaders who made Ally great shown the door. Round after round of layoffs has everyone whispering about who’s next, and the people who remain here are stuck cycling through failed re-orgs meant to “fix” the department. It’s gotten bad enough that I know people actively hoping to get cut just to walk away with severance. If it doesn’t get better soon, I might be hoping to be let go myself. I can’t recommend it the way I once would have.

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