Company: J-P-Morgan
Date: 2018-03-23
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

The worst place i've ever worked in my LIFE - unskilled/tedious work
Pros: Company name on your CV is literally the only perk

Rigid, corporate hellhole.

If you want to be a wannabe banker holding your coffee cup in the morning but without any of the knowledge or skill then this job is ideal for you
Cons: I wished there were more reviews of this place before I joined it so i could have turned it down at the time  but I will write this so that anyone thinking about joining knows the truth and doesn't bother.

JP Morgan has been on a very huge recruitment drives past 4 years hiring left, right and centre with minimal vetting for job posts in CIB or asset operations. This isn't REAL JP Morgan like you'd get in London...it is not a prestigious site at all and many in the company look down on the roles here.

There is obsessesion with front office because those are better paid jobs but also they look down on people who have an ambition to move to front office (all jobs there are middle office) . This is what happens when you don’t have a real qualification. Work is distinguished between those who do operations and those who bring in money to the bank. And this is how the class you as people in this company. 

The  Bournemouth and Edinburghs site are is the equivalent of an India call-centre for operations which they seem to have not yet outsourced abroad. The work is dreadful, boring, mundane. A few tech apps could easily replace 50% of the workforce in this office and the workforce is not educated  or trained enough to improve their working environment and make it more internally effective. 

One building is new and the other is in laughably poor condition despite being young. It doesn't represent JP Morgan at all and it is so poorly maintained compared to other places and competitor places i went for interview

Ageist workforce -  managers only hire young candidates and badger you over age when you join.  Huge bias towards hiring mainly privately educated individuals 

Office is at edge of city and you have to pay for parking - makes leaving on time difficult because of traffic in area 

Some staff are bullies. Very backstabbing environment with mostly two-faced people who won’t let their guard down because every situation is so political. 

It’s so corporate and stuffy, there is nothing FUN about working here. 

Arranging time off is a nightmare and even if you try to book months in adv you might still not get it - depends on office politics and cover which is non-sense because you're legally entitled to take time whenever YOU decide to

Out of date dress code because none of the roles are client facing. Awful tech systems and desks. No consistency with risk assessments towards seating plans regarding posture/comfort or even office facilities such as anti-glare screening or  gelled mousepads to keep comfortable during work hours. They are refurbishing one of the buildings to sell it later as they will eventually close it and downsize jobs after brexit. They are saying otherwise but the building is not that old but quality of it was poor. 

Low pay in line with other competitors such as standard life, barclays etc. They do not pay bonuses to all and the bonuses are as low as £500 when you consider how many people work an average of 10/11  hour days. Salaries are also low and opportunities to move around within the company are limited or go through an extreme vetting process WITHOUT any pay increase. You cannot transfer to another area in the company and receive a pay rise. 

There is a very cringey amount of sucking up between associates/vp's and their bosses ED's and MD's.

No flexible working - leaving on time/at 5pm is frowned upon. Even if you turn up early say 7/8am it doesn't count for anything. They work you like a dog. 

I've seen staff plead to be contacted about work when they're taking a holiday and it's just facepalmingly embarrassing - this place does not care about you at all and they will replace you with a moments notice.