Kind of a shame - Anonymous employee BlackRock Employee Review

3.0
Sep 17, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

So many great things about this company, and I think that it will do well, despite some significant drawbacks. Good products and great depth, great ideas and smart people. Lots of progressive thought about products and organization (just not as good about truly living those great organizational ideas in practice). Has a lot to offer from a career perspective, particularly for more junior people looking for experience and the ability to move around and learn new things (although beware...there's a lot of talk about internal mobility, which is admirable, but also some senior people who will write-off someone looking to move to another role).

Cons

There are some serious cultural issues which I think are quite a shame for such an otherwise promising and fantastic company. Unfortunately, the seemingly blind application of the functionally aligned model has created an environment where ownership and accountability suffers and where finger pointing flourishes. There's also a culture of "bullying" within senior management in particular, which is demotivating and can paralyze people with fear and stunt innovative thinking. And finally, the continual push to "do more with less" has taken a damaging toll on people and created a good deal of accumulated technical and operational backlog. Many valuable people are burning out and leaving, which can exacerbate the problem.

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5.0
Jun 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-great salary and benefits -good work life balance

Cons

Could work better across teams vs in silos

3.0
Feb 22, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

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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