Company: Microsoft
Date: 2013-05-29
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Senior

Velvet sweatshop...
Pros: Good pay and fantastic benefits are just the beginning.  The company is vast and with that comes tremendous opportunity to move around within the company if you are really good at office politics and networking.  Plus, there's a certain prestige to being a Microsoft employee.
Cons: A lot of "lip service" is given to work-life balance but there is a subtle expectation that you will work at all hours of pretty much every day.
There is a STRONG focus on "managing up" meaning that (with few exceptions) managers are mainly focused on presenting the cool things that they are doing and really have very little vested interest in ensuring the success of their employees through managing/coaching/mentoring.
In the current review process - 
1) Too often, success is not measured by accomplishments but is instead measured by activities. 
2) Employees are measured against their peers instead of against the goals of their job.  This basically pits them against each other fostering competition instead of cooperation.
3) EVERY "Commitment" (goal for your position) is subjective.
Microsoft is going through some pretty intense changes in organizational structure which has a LOT of people on edge.