Employee Engagement

We work hard to create a culture that makes Discover a great place to work; where everyone does meaningful work from day one, is inspired to grow, and feels included. We believe employee engagement is defined by the level of trust, integrity, two-way commitment, and communication Discover has with our employees. That’s why we strive to be the best place to work, providing high-quality jobs in an engaging environment.

Our ‟employee listening” practices are a reflection of our culture of continuous improvement. We take a year-round approach to measuring engagement and encourage employees to take advantage of all opportunities to provide feedback, whether through day‑to-day interactions or employee surveys. We also capture feedback across the entire employee lifecycle—from onboarding to exiting the company—which provides us with greater insight into each of the unique experiences we have at work. Our approach has resulted in our employee engagement scores being among the top 25 percent of all companies surveyed by Glint, our survey partner.

Following are highlights from our 2021 myVoice Culture & Engagement Survey:

84% of employees surveyed would recommend Discover as a great place to work.
86% of employees surveyed would recommend their manager to others.

Employee Awards

Discover understands how important it is to thank and acknowledge our employees for being a vital part of our company. Awards and recognition programs are one way we show our appreciation for their contributions.

Bravo

Our Bravo program makes it easy for employees to recognize one another for being a valuable part of the team. With each Bravo recognition, employees earn points which they can redeem for merchandise, gift cards, or donate to charities. To ensure this program was successful in a remote working environment, we made enhancements which included adding coffee chats which randomly pair employees for a one-on-one conversation, enhancing the Celebrations cards and adding an option for branded rewards. In 2021, employee recognition grew by 30 percent from 2020, with more than 40,000 items redeemed totaling more than $2 million in rewards.

President’s Award

For more than 30 years, the President’s Award has been awarded to employees who achieve exemplary business results and embody Discover’s Behaviors. Employees are nominated by their peers for this award. In 2021, 198 employees received the President’s Award for their outstanding accomplishments, along with a $2,000 cash reward. We also hosted a virtual awards ceremony, which was attended by more than 6,000 employees.

Pinnacle of Excellence

Each year, senior leadership selects the recipients of the Pinnacle of Excellence Award, which is eligible to any team leader or non-exempt, front-line employee who directly serves our customers, for their leadership in modeling Discover Values and Behaviors while achieving superior job performance. We recognized 72 employees in 2021 with this distinguished award, along with a $2,000 cash reward.

The event was meaningful, not only to winners, but also to attendees. Ninety-eight percent of respondents said they felt more motivated seeing their peers receive this accolade.

Benefits and Compensation

In addition to providing good-paying jobs, we offer above-industry-average benefits which help Discover attract and retain top talent and enable our employees to thrive. Our benefits include a 401(k) employer contribution of 3 percent of an employee’s salary with an additional 1:1 match up to 5 percent; two stock incentive options; 16 weeks of paid parental leave; generous paid time off policy; education assistance, including a fully-funded bachelor’s degree, and more.

In 2021 we enhanced our benefits even further: extending our fully paid education benefit program to include two more colleges, expanding childcare support, and providing additional programs to support health and wellness. We also offer financial support to assist in the transition to working from home, including monthly reimbursement for internet costs for all non-exempt employees and agent team leaders.

Our employee compensation programs are designed with the following considerations in mind:

Pay for Performance
Pay for the Role
Competitive Market for Employee Talent
Pay Equity
Balanced Compensation Structure

Attracting and Retaining Leadership

Our executive officers are critical to Discover’s success. Our executive compensation program is performance-based and designed to attract top talent, and retain and motivate these leaders. We are guided by the principle that compensation should reflect short- and long-term financial and non-financial performance, as well as individual performance. We deliver a balanced compensation structure while also ensuring that compensation is competitive relative to peers and the broader market.

Helping Employees Navigate Work and Family

When a new baby is due to arrive or one has children at home, extra support can go a long way. Discover offers a variety of benefits to families, and we are proud that 80 percent of parents who took parental leave in 2021 returned to work.

In addition to childcare assistance and flexible work schedules, we provide 16 weeks of paid parental leave, on-site mothers’ rooms and free premium memberships to online resources like Care.com and Ovia Health. Adoptive parents are provided a maximum benefit of $5,000 per child or $6,000 for a child with special needs to help offset some of the cost of growing their family. We also created the Discover Parents Network on the virtual platform Yammer so employees could share tips and provide mutual support. These holistic benefits and initiatives help ensure our employees get the support they need during this momentous time in their life and make it easier for them to transition back to work.

Family and Caretaker Benefits

For many parents and caretakers, the COVID-19 pandemic brought on additional challenges related to interrupted school schedules, the lack of affordable childcare options and more complexity in caring for relatives. To provide these employees with additional support, we added benefits to include:

Subsidized Back-up Childcare with Care@Work: The Care@Work Family Assistance Program now provides 20 days of subsidized backup childcare (up from 15). Usage of this benefit increased more than 100 percent in 2021 from 2019, underscoring the immense need for childcare support as a result of the pandemic.
Torchlight Elder: This online support platform is designed to support employees caring for senior loved ones, providing information and guidance to help them make the best decisions.