Microsoft

Talented people to work with. A good workspace compared to other tech companies. Great work-life balance. Lots of opportunities to move around the company. Good transparency.

Management is working in a positive direction by removing stack ranking, making inter-company transfers easier, setting clear goals, creating good scope to collaborate, and providing better direction. Lots of potential and good positive energy with the new CEO.

Health benefits are not the same; they used to be better.

Promotion time frame is dependent on the group you work for. It is much easier to get promoted in some groups, whereas it is very difficult in others. I've seen people waiting for promotion for 4-5 years despite being very talented.

There is still some friction/politics between groups; however, things are moving in a positive direction. Inter-company transfers don't allow level changes.

Like what management is doing.

Areas to improve:

1. Take more frequent feedback from employees.
2. Improve the benefits if you can afford to keep employees happy.
3. Understand the reason why phone OS is not picking up. Make bold changes if needed, including UI. Recent iPhone demand suggests there is lots of potential for revenue from it. Bring in new phones with outstanding hardware, with new flagship phones far exceeding customer expectations, similar to the Surface brand.