UBS Reviews in London, UK Area

Pros

Some talented people still left, most have moved on

Cons

Lack of respect from management
Bullying, micro management culture tolerated

Advice to Senior Management

Change the culture and rid the work place of bullies in senior positions

Pros

- Great people
- Reasonable salary
- Internal moves straightforward
- Good benefits
- No facetime

Overall UBS is a good place to work, although the team spirit differs significantly between teams.

Cons

- Generally poor senior management
- Unclear promotion process

There aren't that many negatives to UBS, although there is an impact to morale with the increased usage of outsourcing and contractors.

Advice to Senior Management

In general management at ED / MD level on the IT side leaves a lot to be desired.
On the IT side there is a feeling of detachment, aggressive targets without reason and lack of support.

Pros

high calibre of staff, relatively good work life balance, respectful work culture, no aggressive egos and friendly atmosphere overall, strong support for outside activities

Cons

bureaucratic company structures, takes a very long time to get things done, Swiss and UK approach to work do not always agree

Advice to Senior Management

focus on your specific strengths, do preserve your European heritage and avoid purely US style banking, continue hiring ambitious and high-calibre staff,

Pros

good atmosphere, mostly smart people, open minded and supportive, good at nurturing young talent.

Cons

bureacratically overloaded with admin and process, both to do the job and for your own HR development

Advice to Senior Management

peg down the macho style a bit

Pros

Knowledgeable staff
Numerous Clients
Challenging work environment
Fast-Paced work environment

Cons

Poor corporate communication
Very much a bureaucracy
Many internal systems don't talk to eachother

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to embrace change through more collaborate forums and open-source technologies

Pros

- Great location in the city
- Passionate Global Head of HR
- Aspiration levels
- Work/life balance
- -

Cons

- Far from meeting aspitation levels as a firm
- Appraisal system
- Room for innovation and creativity
- Engagement levels

Advice to Senior Management

Reach out to employees even more and to seek their advise on how to raise motivation and higher engagement levels

Pros

Work life balance is generally good, the hours aren't too long and managers are often flexible about when you work.
Colleagues are also good fun to work with and team spirit is usually quite high. Buildings and facilities are also good in terms of nice offices, good IT equipment, changing rooms and medical centre etc.

Cons

It is nigh on impossible to get promoted no matter how hard you work. You can get the best grades in your appraisal and still others will be promoted above you, on the basis that they've sat in their seat longer than you!

Advice to Senior Management

Fairer promotion prospects and greater transparency in showing the process for moving up would help to make people stay, as overall the atmosphere and benefits of the job is good.

Pros

Good work life balance. Management supprts time-offs if required. You get appreciation for good work. Any communication from Mgmt is clear, and people are made to feel important.

Cons

UBS is a great place to work for IB bankers,not for IT. Appreciation is only in words and not in real. Difficult to get promotion. Too much politics to get promotion.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to be open mined to see all the people and not to the people who know how to pamper Mgmt.

Pros

work life balance
people culture of respect/ collaborative not competitive
education opportunities (2 weeks a year compulsory education)
advancement training programmes for promising staff

Cons

unefficient/bureaucratic
underinvestment in infrastructure
pays below the market

Advice to Senior Management

lots of leadership changes in a short space of time

Pros

Very difficult to find anything nice to say. For the last four years i have been there, not a single day passed without any politics. Senior management is in better hands now as compared to say 2 years ago.

Cons

- Extremly political place, politics are played by the senior management themselves.
- Promotions are hard to come by, if you are not well connected.Very difficult to do anything if you are reporting to a boss who is insecure, he will not let you develop.
- Salary growth and bonus is at all time lows.
- Very low employee morale.
- If someone has an issue, no one seems to really care or bother.
- Contractors paradise..there have been contractors who sock up and have stayed put for 5-6 years.

Advice to Senior Management

Have a look at the rank and file.