Microsoft

Work-life balance could be very good. It depends on the group, but you may still get a chance to work with very intelligent and competent people. Benefits were very good this year; however, 2013 benefits will take a major hit.

Performance models suitable for manual labor, blue-collar workers, applied to creative workers and software developers. This model creates unnecessary office politics, seriously damages team spirit, and makes many employees and managers focus on what needs to be done to look good at their next review instead of building successful products customers would be delighted to use.

A new Sinofsky philosophy also brings collective "responsibility" of a trio-manager (Dev Manager, Program Manager, and Test Manager) instead of personal responsibility of a General Manager.

In many cases, we are getting "design by committee" / "decide by committee" environments.

I am yet to be convinced it will bring more good than harm.

Change the performance management model to promote teamwork and align employees' and managers' interests towards shipping successful, commercially valuable products.

The current curve promotes individualism and makes decision-making biased towards short-term career goals instead of long-term product or company success.