Company: Microsoft
Date: 2014-11-05
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

New review system is counter-productive
Pros: The benefits are great: raises, stock awards, charitable gift-matching, etc.  There are many very intelligent people with whom you can collaborate.  Field engineers get to work from home.  Great place for people who like playing with the latest and greatest tech and software.
Cons: Stack-ranking is gone, but the new review system is just as bad.  In the old system, 10% of the team had to be given the lowest score, even if they were all great employees.  Now, no one know how the system really works.  It appears that the managers get to do whatever they want.  If you can't demonstrate "impact", you'll get pushed out the door.  The problem is that there is no definition of what "impact" can be.  It is all up to your manager.  If you don't have a good manager, then you are in trouble.