MSCI Reviews

Cons

- Compensation YoY increase
- Micro management

Cons

None to specifically note at this time

Cons

I joined MSCI as a part of a an acquisition. While initially excited to join a larger firm with ostensibly greater resources, I found that over time my group and by extension my job was increasing burdened with bureaucracy. By the time I left, it was quite difficult to actually get things done, as over 70% of my time was occupied by figuring out how to obtain and then chasing down the approvals for any given task. Part of this is the nature of dealing with highly sensitive, market moving financial data. However it became apparent that more and more folks were afraid to make a decision for fear of making the wrong decision and then subsequently getting hammered by upper management. As a result, doing the actual work contained in my job description became secondary and thus very dissatisfying near the end of my tenure.

I would also note that MSCI is at its core a data firm. And because data can essentially be moved anywhere there is a persistent and ongoing effort to arbitrage labor costs and move them to lower cost offices.

Cons

Shared services are absolutely terrible if not in NYC or London.

HR - Worst in my career.
IT - Non existent in any office outside NYC ect.

Random rounds of people getting fired every year. Terrible use of outsourcing - I hope they get caught or in trouble for this one specifically . Basically bring in employees from low cost regions - Tie them to a visa so they never quit - Pay them less - I know this practice is rabid in many offices - I hear it takes place in Canada as well.

Cons

Consistent outsourcing of labor, may end up having to train away your job to low wage workers in India or Manila.

Cons

Salary takes a while to increase substantially

Cons

being financial firm, layoff is common

Cons

cost control, non competitive compensation

Cons

Salesforce led (not led by innovation/design)
Top heavy with layers of managers who do not use and cannot demo products
Culture rewards headcount/budget vs innovation/design led growth
Risk averse culture
Behind the Fintech curve (dearth of designers and data scientists)
Limited internal data infrastructure for product usage analysis/front line decision making

Cons

- Expectation is that all employees will consistently deliver strong results; this drives excellence and high levels of performance - but is clearly not a good fit for everyone