Culture change looks promising, has a long way to go - Senior Communications Manager Microsoft Employee Review

4.0
28 Feb 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Benefits are great, stock options generous, signing bonus. Company culture has improved since Satya came onboard as CEO, but there are still individuals and divisions within the company that talk the talk, but don't walk the walk (i.e. don't care about employees - churn and burn). The way the company handled COVID has been impressive. IT was one of the times I actually felt like the company cared about my safety and well-being. That was all Senior leadership's doing, and I wish that caring extended farther into the org.

Cons

Frequent reorgs cause disruption, friction, dissatisfaction. You can get re-orged into a group that no longer understands or values your role (nor do they want to). Good managers are not rewarded for developing their people. The manager "model-coach-care" mantra is largely not happening. Sexism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, general lack of inclusiveness occur widely despite DEI efforts.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
3 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Hybrid working time which is highly flexible.

Cons

It is actually hard to reach other teams without formal collaboration because everyone is busy

4.0
28 Jan 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. If you love tech, this is a great place. No doubt you'll talk tech (mostly the MSFT stack) from enterprise to consumer - from PCs to phones to Xboxes - from datacenter to desktop. 2. What were GREAT benefits are now VERY GOOD (took a small step down) but still probably better than you'll find at 99% of large corporations. If you've got family - the value of the benefits is even higher. 401k match is nice. 3. Even with it's struggles MSFT is still a cash printing machine. This means if you can keep your nose clean and do reasonable work, you can have a stable job, pay your bills, feed your family, and not worry (too much) about layoffs. The stock you own likely won't tank, but probably won't go up much either. You'll get a bonus each year and some stock. It's a decent life if you aren't looking to light the world on fire.

Cons

Brand on Your Resume: After many years of losing market share and struggling to be at the front end of innovation and the fact that there's 90,000 employees, don't think MSFT is necessarily going to be attractive on your resume to more agile and smaller companies. Managing Your Career: Make you say this out loud so it registers - 90,000 employees work there. Double that for vendors. It is VERY hard to "stand out" and move up in the company. Don't expect your manager to be much of an advocate or enabler to help you meet your career goals - they are basically trying to survive the stack rank every year too. Not familiar with the stack rank? Check out the 2012 Vanity Fair article called "Microsoft's Lost Decade".

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