Bloomberg L.P. Reviews in London, UK Area

Pros

You are recognized for the good work to do.
You are also given freedom to be entrepreneurial and explore different ideas.
You learn a lot and people are generally quite friendly.

Cons

Pay is ok but not competitive enough vis a vis similar companies.
Micromanagement at times and metrics overload at times.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay needs to be increased. Reduce micromanagement; you've trained your employees well, trust them. Overall a great company to work for.

Pros

The young and vibrant employees, the free food, the perks like free tickets to concerts

Cons

Very hectic and demanding lifestyle, work on weekends, horrible bosses

Advice to Senior Management

Choose team leaders wisely and very carefully - it might make or break your company's future success

Pros

Great offices, good investment by the company in infrastructure, support given to some employees is outstanding. Salaries tend to be better than average and benefits package is very good.

Cons

The 'Bloomberg Way' is never explained, just referred to. Your face fits or it doesn't. Senior managers are given too much freedom to be petty and antagonistic if that is their way.

Advice to Senior Management

Good people management skills should be valued and taught.

Pros

Pantry
Networking with several cultures
Philantropy and projects
Open 24/7
Beatiful Offices

Cons

Salary
Lack-of respect
Prejudice
Repetitive jobs
Culture
Working hours

Advice to Senior Management

Communication, Communication and Communication
Don't think that people believe in poor arguments to make them work harder

Pros

Really professional and amazing culture. Also my team is multicultural and we have great relations. A really nice place to work in London city.

Cons

The most important downside for my is the working hours. They are not really flexible with them. But also the same happens in the most companies.

Pros

Good benefits package. Relatively easier to get a job than in other city firms.

Cons

Flat organisational structure. Limited opportunities for promotion. No senior titles. One can get promoted only to TL level and then to head of the department, which is quite unlikely. Many people who get promoted to TL level come from different departments and have no expert knowledge to guide and practically help you in the first year or so (well, they catch up in about a year under high work pressure).
Pay increase is miserable. New recruits get more money than someone who worked for years. New recruits are enticed with competitive starting salary, but it rarely increases beyond inflation rate in the following years unless you get promoted to TL level. There is trivial difference in pay increase for stars and good performers. Not enough financial stimulus to deliver outstanding job.
Global data is one of the worst departments in the company in terms of pay vs. work hours.

Advice to Senior Management

People are running from company after the first year because they are not financially recognized for their hard work. Please understand that 1K difference in salary increase for a star and non-star is not adequate recognition of good work (I'd say it's rather a spat in the face). It's demotivating and demoralizing, indeed. Introduce better scheme for rewarding financially the best people and you'll see much better work quality with more motivated personnel.

Pros

Smart & interesting colleagues, work/life balance (i.e. good 8-5 job) and good overall benefits and job security. Free private healthcare, discounts on theatre tickets, etc.

Cons

Slightly less pay than an IB, some middle management can be incompetent, metrics questionable for quality performance.

Related to management - inexperienced or insecure ones most likely to treat people like children.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote on competence, not on flair. Some great potential for better managers but need a better system to pick them out.

Pros

- Good introductory training
- Opportunity for further training
- Opportunity to advance relatively quickly into new roles
- Some very intelligent/knowledgeable colleagues
- Free Bloomberg Anywhere

Cons

- High percentage of colleagues are incompetent
- Management induce a condescending culture and treat employees like children
- Management seemingly spend countless hours devising new methods to irritate employees
- Leadership roles are only offered to people who have no words in their vocabulary beyond 'yes, of course I can do that for you'... regardless of how ridiculous suggested request may be
- Management bend over backwards for the sake of rigid, poorly designed metrics regardless on the impact of quality of service
- Promotions are not remunerated immediately, you must await a pay review
- Pay reviews are based on poorly designed metrics
- Pay is extremely opaque for a firm that prides itself on transparency

Advice to Senior Management

Drop the immature culture and fake enthusiasm, treat employees like adults, place qualified knowledgeable people into leadership roles, focus on genuine quality rather than pandering to meaningless numbers. Reward people openly and in a timely manner to ensure those talented employees are retained. Keep the standard of training high.

Pros

Financial analysis exposure
customer service experience
Bloomberg terminal-an amazing tool-very useful to all banks and financial services organization
incredible working environment
advanced technology

Cons

stable salary-underpaid in the lomg run
careers progress under question
job can be boring and repetitive

Advice to Senior Management

give more opportunies to your employees

Pros

Overall a firendly and open environment, people are keen to share knowledge and help out. Very little friction between departments unlike at some other companies.

Cons

sometimes a bit too rigid, a lack of openess to other ways of doing business and too much reliance on young grads in the workforce

Advice to Senior Management

need to make sure good experienced workforce stays by keeping pay competitive. offer more perks such as a gym to back up the corporate communication around healthy lifestyles.