Pretty bad - IT Operations BlackRock Employee Review

2.0
Sep 2, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good location in Edinburgh I suppose.

Cons

Intensely cliquey, if you are not friends with the right people then your life will be difficult. Expected to drop personal life at a moments notice at weekends etc for work. Constant crisis culture. IT systems constantly blowing up and immense pressure to fix quickly. Poor managers who are just in the right place right time to be promoted (got in early). Mistakes are not ok and you will be hammered and reminded of them constantly. Workaholic culture, expected to give your life to the company and condemned when you do not. Constant appraisals (weekly) designed to weed information out of you and critique every aspect of your performance. Aladdin architecture is awful and pcs are slow, iwork culture is awful. Flexible time off is a complete con and designed to make you take less holidays and not pay holidays when you leave!

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BlackRock Response
7y
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We’re disappointed to hear about your experience. Your comment regarding the lack of work-life balance and the meritocracy you experienced is concerning to us, we will take this feedback into account when addressing these issues.

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Pros

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Cons

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3.0
Feb 22, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

1. The executive leaders in the firm are doing a great job 2. Many people in the firm genuinely have a sense of pride working there 3. The (base) compensation is compatible with the market; bonus, however, is another story. 4. For the first ten years of my career in the firm, I made some great memories and made some great friends.

Cons

The culture of my organization started to shift away from a sensible approach and career nurturing to a hostile and confrontational one around 2 years ago. In several all-hands meetings, we were chastised for being "too nice" and were made clear that things would change. The anonymous feedback in the meetings was cut short or eliminated entirely because it didn’t paint a positive picture. In the last 2 years, 1. I was often asked and expected to answer, "Now.. what can you do for me?" in my 1:1 with my latest manager. 2. I was reminded more than once that English is my second language 3. I was reminded more than once by the manager that I should not speak during the meetings I was invited to because they weren’t in the right timing or not appropriate to the subject being discussed during the time There were many of these examples in the last two years with the firm that just seemed inconceivable; nevertheless, I had a great ride and met some genuine people that I consider friends even today.

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