Mastercard reviews

During my years here, we have been overwhelmed with speeches about new culture that would be different from the days of associations, but MasterCard remains a mostly political place with senior executives caring much more about their personas rather than clients or employees. Executive management meetings feel like user-card salesmen conventions from the 80s. HR has the most power, often making and overruling business management's decisions. With the exception of 2-3 people of Level 3 and up, you are learning by watching how executives behaving and then doing the exact opposite. I used to work for Visa and we couldn't figure out how our so badly managed company could be kicking MasterCard out all over the world... now I understand why.

The company is not set up for career progression. There are tons of people who have been at the company 10+ years and coast in mid-level management. This creates a stagnant environment where you can't learn from teammates and there is limited innovation. In general, people operate in the mindset of "it's not my job." Promotions are slow (about 2-3 years for Manager level and below; 3-5 years for Director level; and sometimes longer for Vice Presidents). There is no clear promotion criteria and no formal system for annual career reviews. For example, your manager writes a ~2 paragraph performance review once a year but they're not required to collect 360 feedback from your colleagues. There's also no opportunity to give upward feedback to your manager. Like many big organizations, Mastercard is highly political. As a result, senior leadership can be hit or miss. Many SVPs are figureheads that don't know their business well and don't have the expertise to support their team. Leaders are not rewarded for good management; rather, they are rewarded for executive visibility. It's all about who you know and how well you can sell an idea (versus actually achieving a goal).