Morgan Stanley Reviews in New York City, NY Area

Pros

Big firm.
Reasonably developed infrastructure.
People are reasonably nice.

Cons

All the downside of being a big firm.
Nasty fixed income instruments aren't for everyone.

Advice to Senior Management

N/A

Pros

you get to work with some very competent people. some of the best in the industry.

Cons

long hours. nepotism when it comes to promotion.

Advice to Senior Management

help employees balance work/life and you will see increased productivity and foster goodwill with your employees.

Pros

-Great brand name
-Great benefits
-Very modern facilities/cafeteria
-Knowledgable and friendly staff
-Offices are located near transportation hubs (ex: 1585 Broadway in Times Square)
-Free coffee/tea/milk in pantry

Cons

-If you don't have an Ivy League degree, you will get overlooked for specific roles
-Company rarely hires from within
-Depending on what department you're in, you might have a hard time moving up the corporate ladder

Pros

Steep learning curve, you learn so much in a few years
Excellent brand name which opens alot of doors
Ability to work on market defining transactions
Surrounded by extremely intelligent people you can learn from and be inspired by

Cons

Very political, difficult to get promoted
Difficult to shake off a reputation once you have it
Mentorship was ok, but could be better
The hours were pretty long

Pros

Well-known brand in investment banking, good client relationship, history of big deal-making, competitive work environment (good for those who like to compete in a workplace)

Cons

Undeveloped risk-management technology, poor mid-level management communication and work organization in strategy and technology, duplication of effort. No coherent firm-wide development plan in risk management technology.

Advice to Senior Management

Improve management in the strategy organization. Develop modern risk-management technology. Improve communication about work process and goals. Define work processes and goals.

Pros

Over the 12+ years I worked at MS, the best were in the first 5 yrs when it was truely a diamond in the rough. Great place to work, great comraderie, everyone worked together toward a common goal. No egos got in the way. Now, egos rule the roost and only those who stroke them get ahead.

Cons

Be prepared to work harder than you ever have without being fairly compensated. The only way to get paid what you're worth at MS is to get a job elsewhere and quit.

Advice to Senior Management

Open your eyes and ears. Ask for feedback not just from your cronies, but from everyone. Make feedback truely anonymous.

Pros

chanllenging, encourage mobility, with opportunity

Cons

stressful, and low pay, lack of flexibility

Pros

Intelligent Subject matter experts
quality balance of work and life expierience
reasonable work hours

Cons

poor base pay
poor bonus structure
lack of mangement to the work force.

Advice to Senior Management

Hold the management team responsible for honest and accurate feedback instead of trying to make themselves look better in their managers eyes.

Pros

Great Work Environment and constant training for employees on new technologes, lot learn and to perform

Cons

Lot of work load with some departments seems to have rude people

Advice to Senior Management

train people to be good with other collegues and to be professional

Pros

Mobility Opportunities, knowledge sharing, learning growth, great work environment, excellent benefits. Overall a great company to work for.

Cons

Choose your area and your management carefully!!! In operations favoritism is a key (may differ from department to department), smart people and hard workers tend to leave the deparmtnets as there is little opportunities for career growth. Management promotes and prefers people that can 'talk' rather than perform, the true talent is not recognized. The operations management is also quite weak in managing people. Unfortunatley, people are key to maintaining a good balance of expertise and knowledge within operations (its all about people here). Other areas, especially on the business side are more straight forward.

Advice to Senior Management

Sadly, there is a great loss of talent. People management in operations - in individual departments - is quite poor thanks to favoritismm, and lack of career advancement - stop focusing on hiring from outside, and look to promote your talented people from within. Otherwise you will soon wind up with areas severely lacking experience. Also, consider sending your sr. managers to take some people management clasess, some of them can greatly benefit from it.