American Express to add 1,500 more workers in hiring spree

American Express is going against the grain, continuing to add to its workforce while other high-profile brands announce layoffs and hiring freezes.

The New York City-based financial services giant is looking to hire 1,500 more workers for its technology arm. Roughly 60% of the hires will be in the United States, with about a third in India and the rest in Europe, reports Bloomberg, citing Ravi Radhakrishnan, chief information officer at American Express.

The company is on the lookout for scientists, engineers and analysts for handling everything from fraud management to lifestyle services to the company’s venture-capital arm. The firm had 64,000 employees as of the end of last year and has already added more than 3,600 technical workers this year.

Read more: IBM 'continuing to hire' ahead of recession

“It is without a doubt a challenging environment to recruit technical talent,” Radhakrishnan said in the Bloomberg report. “The war for talent is a true consideration.”

The new hiring campaign is a good move for the company, according to Daniel Peris, senior portfolio manager at investment banking company Federated Hermes.

“Counter-cyclical domestic investment-I love it! In this case, it may not really be counter, b/c their business is apparently booming. But still, if a company can afford to invest into this downturn, it should,” he said via LinkedIn.

Those joining American Express will experience remote work flexibility offered in just a few banks. Currently, 40% of workers are working fully via the virtual space. Meanwhile, the majority of the company’s staffers have chosen to come into the office two days a week and work remotely the rest of the week.

“There’s a lot of talent that wants to understand how we approach flexibility,” Radhakrishnan said. “It’s not just the flexibility that we offer -- the option to be virtual, in-person or hybrid. It’s combining it with purpose. We do do that. We ask people to work with their leaders to determine the purpose for coming in.”

With their investment in workers, the company now expects revenue for the year to climb as much as 25%, reported Bloomberg.

“We now expect our full-year operating expenses to be around $13 billion as we invest in our talented colleague base, technology and other key underpinnings of our growth given our tremendously high levels of revenue growth,” Chief Financial Officer Jeff Campbell said in July, according to the report.

Preparing for an anticipated recession, major employers throughout the U.S. have reduced their headcount this year. In fact, more than 650 startups and tech firms have laid off more than 110,000 people in 2022, according to Blind’s tech layoffs tracker.