Microsoft reviews

"Culture." This is a hot-button word leadership and sr. leadership like to tote around, but the reality is the shareholders heavily influence the culture and future of the org. The 10,000+ layoffs this year (2023) no or very limited raises this year "due to economic times" came as both a shock and a disappointment, as the organization has had a record-breaking year (again) and is looking to spend $69,000,000,000 in CASH for Activision/Blizzard. It does not seem to add up. "Diversity + Inclusion" is another hot-button word Microsoft likes to use, but the company only cares about diversity of color, not diversity of thought. DEI here just checks a box and feels more like pandering than actually doing anything of substance. Benefits - while the benefits are excellent here, they vary greatly per role. The company likes to talk about being "one Microsoft." Still, there is a huge disparity of benefits and rewards between retail/hourly workers and corporate Microsoft, also referred to as "greater" Microsoft. Corporate employees get higher stock/bonuses/rewards, have 3x the amount allotted for fitness reimbursement, and have higher tuition reimbursement than hourly workers (data centers, stores, digital sales reps, etc.). I understand there may be different rewards for perceived differences in value/ROI, but don't pretend to be "one Microsoft" if all is not equal. Paid time off - Microsoft used to have accrued time off based on length of service. This meant you earned your time off. However, the org recently moved to "unlimited discretionary time off (DTO)." On paper, this is great; at the discretion of your manager, there is no longer a cap on the amount of time you can take off. It also looks great on paper to say "unlimited time off." The issue is that it is discretionary. Instead of telling your manager when you would like to take time off based on your earned PTO, you now have to ask permission. Your manager is now free to tell you "no" if it does not align with the needs of the business.

- Amy Hood has explicitly said they target 70% pay of the FAANG companies. They justified this by saying we have more stability and less WLB issues. Now we've laid off over 10,000 employees, we've been told by Satya to "do more with less", and we've had our bonuses eliminated despite hitting an all time stock high. Given the actions of our leadership, proceed with caution - Certain teams like Azure and Xbox have far worse work life balance than other teams. They can also be highly competitive, making a raise or promo difficult - Role expectations can be pretty rigid. Rather than management looking at your strengths, you are graded against a strict rubric. If you don't fit the mould, your career will suffer - Internal transfers are just as hard as external transfers, as you still have to do a full interview loop