Bloomberg L.P. Reviews in London, UK Area

Pros

The office is beautyful and you probably won't find much better anywhere else. People are also great and it's an excellent place to make new friends and meet people from all around the world. It's a not a bad place to start your career but don't stay too long!

Cons

Salary is not competitive at all which is very demotivating. Career prospects are poor and senior management have not been trained in leadership at all. Working hours are NOT flexible. You often feel like working in a factory and all that is important is statistics before quality. It doesn't feel like management cares about you at all which is bad for moral and team spirit. Lastly, Bloomberg is known for having a very flat structure which is not really true. Even people used to working in investment banks say that Bloomberg's management structure is more hierarchical than those in banks. Unless you know the right people in the US it is very difficult to get a say in anything.

Advice to Senior Management

Make people feel more important and make them feel like you care and you will get much more motivated employees. Also consider rewarding hardworking individuals more fairly in terms of salary.

Pros

Fantastic brand and market reputation. Dynamic company with deep pockets able to effect changes in personnel and product at short notice. Great office facilities, attractive work colleagues.

Cons

Increasingly confused compensation scheme. Seemingly reluctant to reward individuals for short term performance, loyalty and adherence to company values recognised above all else. Decision making overly autocratic and New York centric. Inability of middle management to question decisions passed down from above or think outside of the box.

Advice to Senior Management

Develop more inclusive decision making process and empower employees to take responsibility and use their discretion. Listen to market feedback and keep closer tabs on developments amongst competitors.

Pros

- free food in the cafeteria
- nice office building
- looks good on your cv
- some exposure to finance
- benefits are okay

Cons

- looong hours even in training
- really really old technologies used, and java script!
- a huge base of legacy code which is a pain to deal with
- not enough libraries, code base, documentation from past, similar projects that could be used, you end up doing everything yourself, again
- you have to program on the bloomberg terminal, which is a pain

Advice to Senior Management

change R&D completely, get rid of legacy code as fast as possible, not by covering it with new technologies but rather redesign the core.. I know this is not easy, but necessary. A lot of manpower is wasted by dealing with issues that come from the legacy base.

Pros

good benefits, doesn't fire many people during crisis, resilient to financial downturns, useful training, great young environment, perfect place to meet new people

Cons

bad management, even worse communication, claim to have a flat management but it's not true instead quite hierarchical, often messy, not very organised, few opportunities to grow, cannot keep bright people in, a lot of mediocre people

Advice to Senior Management

Improve communication with the people you manage. Make people aware of their growth potential, keep bright people in, increase meritocracy.

Pros

Company name on the CV
Some financial market training
Nice and overquilified colleagues
Young environment
Newly designed office and tropical fish collection
Free food and drinks
Insurance benefits

Cons

Low Salary and Bonus
Management are too young and without previous managerial experience or job experience
Long hours: 8 am - 6pm, you cannot arrive late or leave the office earlier
You are constantly monitored and your work is controlled
You are pushed to work really hard and to multitask
You are not important, anyone can quit and be replaced very easily
Most of the people leave the company after the first year
Open planned floors with no natural light
There is no career progression as such, it is all about customer assistance
The company culture is too strong, especially in the first few weeks
Sometime you are obliged to work during weekends and public holidays
Old computers and screens
Some positions involved too much travelling : 3 weeks out of 4 per month

Advice to Senior Management

Improve the product and make it more friendly to use so that clients do not need all this assistance
Need to learn how to provide constructive comments to employees and how to trust their work
Hire experienced managers from other companies with new ideas

Pros

Great culture and very different from similar employers. Management is approachable, as everyone in the company. You could make a career internally, if you like it. Good exposure to the markets

Cons

very poor compensation in comparison to other players in the industry
not always feeling as being part of the bigger picture
poor staff retention

Advice to Senior Management

improve staff retention rate, by better employee motivation and better compensation

Pros

Constantly in touch with the market and different market players from both the buy and sell side, giving you a great insight into different aspects of the industry.

Cons

Management is always promoted internally, hence lack of management skills and training. Work is the same everyday, no variation whatsoever.

Advice to Senior Management

Give teamleaders appropriate training needed to lead a team and come up with ways to motivate staff.

Pros

The most meritocratic company I have ever worked with. Possibility for very rapid advancement based only on performance and not prior education etc
Good food/drinks and summer parties, although less so with recent cost cutting.
Attractive staff and office
Lot of potential for learning

Cons

Management has a tendency to change things frequently
Once the learning curve flattens out, it´s not so fun
Pay levels do not prevent high performing staff from moving to join their clients on the buyside/sellside

Advice to Senior Management

doing well, a little bit less change might be good for the corporate culture

Pros

Great offices with a great kitchen (snacks, drinks, breakfast)
Feeling of being plugged into an amazing communications network 24/7 (also a con)
Ask for more responsibility and you'll get it (be careful how much you ask for)
[Some] very intelligent and interesting work colleagues
Good at spotting and rewarding talent
Great focus on environmental issues, carbon footprint and recycling
Great benefits

Cons

Working hours
Work life balance
That 24/7 plugged-in feeling works both ways
[Some] not very intelligent and interesting work colleagues
Technology not cutting edge (unless you're very talented and able to push something new)
Lots of maintenance of existing systems
Types of work, job satisfaction and colleagues very dependant on which team you join

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management at the company is very entrenched, and not always open to new ideas. This isn't always a bad thing - stability in a large company is good, but sometimes it feels like a bit of a shake up at the top might be good.
Some managers definitely better than others.
Currently in the middle of a shift towards a new culture that is supposed to reward talent, focus back on growth, clean out some old crusty employees that are just coasting ("PLAN B"). Will be interesting to see how that works out over the next couple of years.

Pros

- Decent Benefits
- Good compensation
- Market leader
- Stable job
- No layoffs

Cons

Long hours / clocking hours
Management
Micromanagement
Obsolete technologies
Open space office
Ridiculous business ever-changing policies towards employees

Advice to Senior Management

Software Developer can't code for 12 hours every day all year long doing support/investigation/firefighting and meetings all at the same time.