Pros
The company has a very strong braintrust among its employees and does a good job attracting talented people (many employees have advanced degrees, impressive backgrounds at others companies and overall are very bright). The culture is pretty relaxed, but everyone works hard - probably around 50-60 hours a week. Mid-level managers are empathetic that career paths at the company are opaque, as they face same advancement problems. Senior management has copped to being aware of general dissatisfaction with the way the company is structured/run in the past and just completed their company-wide engagement survey. The onus is on them to take action in response to employee feedback.
Cons
The company has difficulty keeping its most talented employees - it's efforts to consolidate a leading market position in investment support related businesses has not been flawless and created tension both internally and with some of MSCIs clients. How this will affect the reputation and performance of the company in the future yet to be seen. Prepare for another big bout of turnover after the 2012 bonuses are declared.
