Microsoft

• Excellent brand recognition: Microsoft is widely recognized and respected in the industry.
• Ground-breaking tech: particularly in AI, the innovations that make their way into products are remarkable.
• Good benefits package: comprehensive health coverage, 7% pension matching, and generous PTO.
• Flexible and remote working.
• Great colleagues (some!): pockets of talent and professionalism, especially in the product and engineering teams.
• Impressive stock growth.

• Dog-eat-dog culture: cutthroat environment with intense competition among colleagues.
• Favouritism and us vs. them mentality: leadership often shows blatant favoritism for teams and within teams.
• Employee slacking: many employees are just coasting, waiting for retirement.
• Stack ranking in disguise: performance reviews have essentially reverted to stack ranking with everyone competing for the same pot of money at the end of the fiscal.
• Hard to make internal moves: career progression within the company is stifling, making it difficult to move between departments.
• Poor leadership decisions: leadership at the regional level makes frequent poor decisions that impact morale and productivity.
• Minimal pay growth: salary increments are negligible, falling behind industry.
• Poor pay vs. competitors: compensation packages are not competitive, driving talent away.
• High turnover of top talent: many of the best employees have left or are planning to leave, further deteriorating the work environment.

Reevaluate leadership in the UK to overhaul the toxic culture.

Hire and retain the best with competitive pay and benefits.

Invest in talent with appropriate funding and make internal moves easier.

Listen to employee feedback.