Company: Microsoft
Date: 2016-09-01
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: current

A great company to work for!
Pros: Great work environment.  Microsoft really cares about its employees and even for a very large corporation, Microsoft goes out of its way to ensure its employees are well cared for. From the facilities, to benefits, it's got to be at the top of the industry.

The work is very challenging and there are many different organizations to choose from.  I've been a full time employee for almost 16 years and still love working here.  

Ever since Microsoft got rid of their competitive review, stack-ranking system, a few years ago, it has really improved morale and productivity in my opinion. Instead of focusing how to outshine your peers, the focus is now on a growth mindset and how you leverage other's ideas to help you do a better job. It's about partnership and collaboration.  

Microsoft does preach work-life balance. I think many have achieved a good balance while others struggled.  The key to a good balance is the organizational VP has to buy-in to the concept.
Cons: Some people seem overworked and it is usually attributed to their functional organization's leader that doesn't understand how convey the importance of balance.  As with any large corporation you'll have good managers, and bad ones.  The great thing about Microsoft is they continually look for employee feedback and if you have a bad/poor manager, you can anonymously provide constructive feedback which HR and leadership takes seriously.  This is why I've been here over 16 years.