Microsoft reviews

4.0

77% would recommend to a friend

(53,901 total reviews)
avatar

Satya Nadella

77% approve of CEO

71% positive business outlook

Microsoft has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 53,901 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Microsoft employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Tecnologías de la información industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

54K reviews
3.0
Jun 11, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company is involved in a very broad array of products and services, so there are plenty of opportunities to work on big projects as well as small, new ones. The people are incredibly SMART! and they move fast, so the pace is fast. The business also touches some very interesting and innovative external audiences -- large IT departments, small businesses, resellers/VARs, startup companies, etc. Also, the company works on some surprizingly innovative technologies - lots of opportunity to be involved with exciting new things. And it has the staying power and attitude to make something right over time-- it's exciting to see your product get better and better until it really succeeds.

Cons

The culture is focused on the individual. Commitments/MBOs are built around individual contributions, not team, collaboration, or your ability as a manager. It's a very competitive culture. There is little incentive to support others except for superficially. Align, engage, acrue. The culture is very distinctive- you either fit or you do not. Focus on smart, fast execution; efficiency. Not a thoughtful place to work. Emphasis is on getting work done to demonstrate the value of your team or manager. Must complete the work within the FY planning process. So therefore, it often does not matter if the right work is being done. Each year, everyone gets new objetives -- want to own a new program that can demonstrate results. As with many big companies, working on a sustain project is not highly vauled, creates less visibilty and exposure to management. As with any big company, it's political and people focus on advancing their careers as first priority, doing what is right for the company as 2nd priority.

4.0
Jun 11, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Being surrounded by great people, great process, and inundated with "Best Practice" causes you to learn in a year what it would take 3-5 years to learn anywhere else. You also have the ability to have a huge impact in your customers/ your company and most manager's I've had are very hands-off which also helps you to help grow. Working in an environment where there is constant change is stressful at first but helps you to learn to deal with change; a skill that is useful for the rest of your life.

Cons

Work/Life balance can be a problem, depending upon the role. The compensation and benefits package in non-US subsidiaries is sub-par compared to the US Sub (especially the health care package). The tools and business practices are not standardized between the US and non-US subs either. The MS Performance system claims to be based upon metrics and to eliminate favortism, but when all is said and done, your manager will argue for you in the "Calibration meetings" if he/she likes you, and lesser-so if they don't. Favortism and the "good 'ole boys" club is alive and well; both in performance reviews and hiring. The focus on performance metrics has caused FAR too many people to lose focus on what is best for customers and the company; everyone is busy trying to check off items for their performance reviews and inflate their metrics instead of providing cusotmers with better products and services. The combination of the focus on metrics vs. what is right and the fact that many teams are geographically distributed and never physically see each other causes the team dynamic to break down and causes a lot of back stabbing. In a nutshell there's too much of a focus on individual performance vs. team performance.

Viewing 53254 - 53256 of 53,901 Reviews

Glassdoor has 68,473 Microsoft reviews submitted anonymously by Microsoft employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Microsoft is right for you.