BlackRock reviews

There is too much emphasis placed on corporate titles rather than the ability of individuals. People are not encouraged to be innovative, but rather simply to tow the company lines and do as senior management instructs.

Post-acquisitions (primarily Quellos, BGI), layers of management seem to increase exponentially (and continually). Some layers include legacy Merrill people that are sub-par and overly political (sorry, it's true). This does not mesh well with cultures full of people used to just getting things done. NY-centric culture has little understanding of typical West coast high-performance culture, and has made minimal effort to capitalize on the positive differences. Quellos acquisition went miserably, and 3+ years later certain, integration pieces are still moving at glacial speed. BlackRock attitude largely underestimated quality of people / processes at staff / ancillary levels at acquired companies and attempts to fit round pegs in square holes were finally abandoned, with actual integration being prolonged and inefficient. BlackRock likes to think it is still a company that operates nimbly, like in the old days, but probably 90% of people outside upper management would say this is not the case. Wages too heavily-emphasize local market, when local market has few comparable positions. Wide discrepancies exist in salaries for comparable jobs in other locations. Compensation calculations are not transparent. Many people have been working the jobs of 2-3 people for a few years now, and are still waiting for compensation to re-align, while we watch revenues continue to climb. Re-investment is ongoing, but not into current employees, until they shout loud enough.