Lehman Brothers Reviews

Pros

Pay comparable to street, well reputed similar to any other bulge bracket, good name to have on resume, good initial training programs.

Cons

Political, difficult career path, old school investment bank, lack of direction from senior management, not a lot of senior people who are good managers or have people skills.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to provide more visibility on direction of company and issues, don't coat how good things really are if they are not.

Pros

Lehman Brothers possessed a very dynamic and diversed culture. It was forward-looking and the technologies used were always updated. They offered training/classes for free to enhance knowledge about the business.

Cons

Just like most companies, politics reigned. Some people were recognized more than others even if not deserved. Management could be more transparent regarding the true standing of the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Management should also listen to their employees. Whilst clients are important, the people who made the company's success in the past rightfully deserved to be taken care of -- financially especially.

Pros

Very good management who dont like to take a lot of risk. Conservative and honest people who are always upfront with everyone.

Cons

Can't really think of any. They never chase Goldman or the other investment banks. They are just focused on being the best they can be while doing it with tons of integrity.

Advice to Senior Management

bGreat jon

Pros

Entrpreneurial spirit and team work were amazing. There was a real sense of ownership and can do spirit. People really worked for the good of the firm

Cons

It is a damn shame that senior management let the real estate group put so many bad assets on our balance sheet. I'm so proud to have worked there

Advice to Senior Management

The president of the company should focus on the actual business and take feedback from the people in the trenches.

Pros

Good pay
Good bonuses
Good benefits
Good people in my group
Challenging work
Projects/work was fairly organized
Good office location
Good prestige at the time

Cons

Company went bankrupt!
Long, long, long, long, long hours!
No dinner with family pretty much ever
Weekend work at times
Nomura transition pretty tough

Advice to Senior Management

Uh, what to say?
High risk, high reward... Higher risk, no job
Did management have the shareholders and employees best interest in mind?

Pros

The firm was a great with a very team work and entrepreneur environment. However it often times lacked stucture and fairness for such a big firm.

Cons

Promotion and bonuses dictated by naptism and favoritism. Not at all based on merit and was extremely disappointing for such a great firm.

Advice to Senior Management

don't go bankrupt, treat your employees with more respect, don't keep around poor management because of their connections, stop underpaying your employees.

Pros

As a summer analyst in the leveraged loans group, I primarily did research on leveraged companies. A lot of time was spent alone behind a computer.

Cons

Lots of time working on cash flow models in Excel with little connection to the value they actually created. Also, listening in on conference calls was boring. Very little attention was paid to summer analysts.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't tell you employees that everything is going to be fine when you're about to go under water nearly everyone is going to lose their job.

Pros

Diverse culture, momentum (while it lasted), rather flat organization compared to others in Japan. Perk was farely good. Housing assistance (tax deduction) was great.

Cons

Not all management deserved their post. Some were just plain garbage, though an great aXX kissing garbage. They needed to evaluate who went up and thrown out.

Advice to Senior Management

Now that its gone, not much advice to give. If they were still running, I would advise them to reevaluate the risks in taking on business where they aren't ready to do so.

Pros

Company culture
Ability to grow within company

Cons

Bankruptcy, limited departments to choose from, combining culture with Barclays

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing-- net profits are a good sign. How did Lehman and Barclays culture combine after the bankruptcy?

Pros

Great IT infrastructure - best-in-class compared to other organizations which I have worked with. The salary and benefits are among the most generous. Its fast-pace work environment teaches you everything you need to know about corporate in approx. 6 months. Senior managers are easily accessible. Responsibilities increase substantially if one has proven himself/herself.

Cons

Long working hours - unbelievably long. Very competitive and unfriendly work environment. Beware of backstabbing. Managers show no sympathy for junior people for working ultra long hours. In fact, managers believe that if one gets out of the office before midnight, that person must be lazy. Managers do not appreciate the hard work junior people put in. Managers are ridiculously demanding. Time is always wasted on mundane jobs which are results of managers' ego.

Advice to Senior Management

Please give more attention to employees' work-life balance. If you don't respect your employees' time, your employees will not do a good job for you. In fact, I believe that everyone hates the job.