Company: Microsoft
Date: 2016-11-16
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current

Mechanical Engineer -Surface
Pros: working with very talented people.
nice benefits (health care, stock options)
flexible time/ability to work from home.
Cons: stressful environment.
employees on all levels feel insecure about their job.
working between 50 to 85 hours a week.
work/life balance almost non-existent....up to 25% travel and late night calls with overseas are the norm.
Numerous daily/weekly scorecards and status reports to upper management are common ....data manipulation and wishful thinking is an accepted practice while preparing the reports.  
Burnt-out senior employees are replaced with fresh college graduates (college graduates are sent for month long business travel at a time).
Alcohol consumption during business hours and group meetings is an accepted practice (this can be a Pro for some).
Annual employee evaluations are based on stacked ranking (the evaluation is not called by this name) which results in noticeable employee turn over and caustic culture within and among groups.