Prepare for Micro-Management - Anonymous employee BlackRock Employee Review

2.0
8 July 2010
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

BlackRock is a strong brand, which in some parts of the world is widely recognised. The firm is the largest buy-side (investment management) firm in the world by a long way, leading to a breadth of potential opportunity and experience. Compensation is competitive to good

Cons

Decision making is often opaque and is nearly always centred in New York, decisions seemingly being made by a small group of people The company is very inward looking, particularly with regards to technology and is wedded to a lot of poor, dated, highly proprietary technology The management style from the top of the firm is to micro-manage people and centralise control

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5.0
21 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great company to gain experience

Cons

Not many cons, large organization

3.0
22 Feb 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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