Fitch Ratings Reviews

Pros

Great work environment
High profile work
Fantastic opportunity to learn and travel
Industry experts

Cons

Low salary compared to peers

Pros

Health Benefits are very good

Cons

Poor leadership and management, Passive HR department, No compensation for extensive hours, No performance reviews, Boys Club mentality, Women overlooked at upper management level

Advice to Senior Management

Outline a clear vision for company, Reorg senior management, Issue performance reviews and create a pro-active HR department

Pros

stable company, clock in, clock out, if you have no ambitions, great place to hang your hat

Cons

Terrible work life balance, no working from home allowed.

Some days Big Boss just wants you to show your face around the office late to appear like your working hard without need to do real work, just google late in the office & boss will be happy if you do that.

Easy to get promoted - the person who puts in the most hours wins
 no real talent needed or rewarded

Fuzzy goals, no organizational chart, no performance review till last year, big boss said performance review is a big waste of time. Last year's attempt failed when big boss doesnt buy it & is being forced.

Oppressive one-way do it my way or the highway management style

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of the man if he does not fix your issues, you set the atmosphere in the office. Message to employees is you can spend millions of dollars without accountability.

Pros

Fitch has a great work life balance. I didn't know anyone there who worked more than the required 35 hours, and many of the analyst work substantially less if they are in the "In Crowd." The health insurance is fabulous and is on a sliding scale and they do a decent match on the 401K.

Cons

Management is awful, no direction is provided and promotions are based on popularity not abilities, so they tend to promote people way past their level of incompetentness. Management will NEVER let you know the criteria you need to meet to get your bonus and you will likely find yourself shaking your head at review time. After the fact they will say "well your numbers were low in this area so your bonus is going to be low" but that number most likely is something you have no control over. Then when you have a really good number in that area, they change the measurement to something else. So you are always chasing your tail but never know by what you will be judged at year's end. Then people who rarely even bothered to work will get bigger bonuses simply because they are more politically connected. Even though I loved my actual job, most of the people there were just downright unpleasant to work with. There are a few good people who take pride in their work and are respectful to others, but they are hard to find.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop promoting based upon brown nosing and promote based upon proven ability to LEAD.

Pros

Great exposure and a very public role. Markets keenly follow analytical commentary. Can add brand value to your resume. Good work life balance.

Cons

Pathetic bonus. Average benefits when compared to peers. Disgustingly low pay - probably even below Moody's and S & P. Zero stock options. The French like to keep it all for themselves. In short the place cant be a long term career option. Get the name on yr resume and then get the hell out.

Pros

Fitch is great place to work as people are very nice, good work life balance and its a big brand name within the Financial Services industry.

Cons

But thats as far as my compliments goes, this place lacks serious leadership and the development team does not follow any framework or methodology hence they either over estimate or ridiculously underestimate work and consequently do not deliver things in time!! You would expect a far more efficient outlook from an organisation such as Fitch!!

Advice to Senior Management

Look at the market, adopt best practices and implement agile

Pros

Good pay, easy hrs, friendly staff

Cons

Corrupt industry, vertical hierarchy, no Opportunity to advance

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

Decent vacation policy for management

Cons

Senior management does not effectively communicate strategic goals of the company. There is no guidance for improving perfomance should you get off course. For a company that communicates to the outside world about "TRANSPARENCY" they do a terrible job internally managing their people.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide clear goals and objectives for employees. Articulate corporate strategy to everyone.

Pros

The benefits were very good, and the hours were very reasonable. There are some industry leaders who are well respected in their fields.

Cons

Most people at Fitch are very mediocre -- with some exceptions, the talented people were miserable and left as soon as they could. It is not an innovative place to work at all, and managers and executives often seemed clueless and incompetent.

Pros

Great People, Good learning experience

Cons

Poor Comp compared to its peers

Advice to Senior Management

Improve the compensation