Macquarie Group Reviews

Pros

- Good comp
- Good london facilities

Cons

- Highly political / too much infighting
- Poor senior management
- Flat hierarchy means no decisions get made
- Boom and bust hiring strategy

Advice to Senior Management

Cut down on the huge amount of committees and boards that have been put in place that dont lead to any action and put in place a proper management decision making hierarchy. Think about how many staff you actually need long term rather than over hiring and subsequently over firing at the slightest whiff of trouble.

Pros

good people at the company

Cons

fratty culture, incompetent managers, boring work

Advice to Senior Management

don't hire jerks, offer bigger bonuses, award performance with pay, focus on projects other than infra, recruit from more schools

Pros

Generally good people
Entrepreneurial culture
Pretty flat hierarchy compared to other investment banks

Cons

Pay can sometimes not be competitive
Top down (from Sydney HQ) management

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on targeted lines of business; continue to keep staff informed on direction; challenging markets make your job difficult! Continue to encourage entrepreneurial and sensible risk-taking environment

Pros

- smart people
- lots of changes
- vibrant

Cons

- unfair treatment of people
- personal relationships valued more than competence
- a very confused corporate culture

Advice to Senior Management

Stop making decisions based on who you're friends with...

Pros

The people aspect makes it enjoyable, the day to day challenges keep you interested. Overall I would recommend Macquarie as a good place to work

Cons

Some of the red tape and office politics that you see in other investment firms resdie in Macquarie as well.

Advice to Senior Management

Macquarie has some of the most educated & dedicated people in the investment business, please continue to invest and pay your staff & stay on par with other firms.

Pros

The firm lives up to its 'innovative' reputation, and offers a very flat heirarchy. The people are smart and motivated, and there is a strong spirit of 'building a business' throughout most divisions (esp in the US).

Cons

Macquarie's lack of structure has started to create some problems, as it seeks to 'wrestle with giants' in the IB industry. Now that its major revenue drivers of the last decade have dried up, it is seeking to reinvent itself and faces a challenging period.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior leadership needs to provide some further strategic direction - front line business people can develop good ideas but the 'small business' approach of Macquarie's past is no longer fitting for a medium-sized global investment bank.

Pros

Lots of opportunity for junior level employees to advance

Cons

Compensation is well below average resulting in high staff turnover and poor morale. Very bad management that either 't understand the US market or plain incompetent. Lousy work environment with a lot of office politics.

In short, Macquarie is the worst managed company I have ever worked for.

Advice to Senior Management

Increase pay to become more competitive versus peers and bring in new management that understands the US market.

Pros

Good training opportunity and flat corporate structure. Compensation is competitive but not outstanding. Good IT system.

Cons

Certain amount of politics among middle level management

Pros

A lot of opportunity for advancement
Very structured remuneration and promotion process.
Global company with many opportunities to work overseas
A lot of opportunities for interdepartamental transfers
Four weeks vacation
Very interesting group of people from all courners of the globe

Cons

No work life balance
Management's expectation to work overtime
Lack of infrastructure
Sydney centric support forces to work late
Management lacks vision
The hiring process includes a psychometric assessment which slows down the hiring process, eliminates many candidates otherwise good for the job and persons hired include management material only. It is sometime difficult to get things done when everyone has an opinion.

Advice to Senior Management

Macquarie want to succeed in the US, but is falling behind their competitors. It needs to invest in infrastructure and fast.

Pros

laid back culture compared with US banks. ppl are quite friendly. good office location
good office pantry
good that they make an effort for friday drinks

Cons

promotion seems to be limited