Morgan Stanley reviews

3.9

75% would recommend to a friend

(19,886 total reviews)
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Ted Pick

80% approve of CEO

73% positive business outlook

Morgan Stanley has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 19,886 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Morgan Stanley employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Financial Services industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

20K reviews
2.0
Jun 19, 2017

To big to succeed.

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very wide array of ways to build your business. Large firm resources to send out to prospective clients. Slick looking pieces for distribution, (once they figure out what they want to do.) not a bank subsidiary feel like other wire houses.

Cons

Less name recognition than Merrill. Too many systems to work on your business. No one who is a VP or branch manager uses the tools a new advisor is allowed to use. More fuddy duddy feeling offices. Less thought about holistic brand identity. Local management does not follow through with promises after recruitment. Transferring old clients is risky if you have discretion as you may not get that unless you want to carve off a share of your book to a dinosaur who lives off managing your clients the way he did it in 1996. Compliance officers have no experience as advisors and excessive CYA for themselves - means worse business denial unit than Merrill or UBS, but don't actually know rules. Disorganized local training. No thought about why we should do something. Middle managers have no idea why we do anything.

1.0
Jun 23, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Free coffee and the mistaken belief among college grads that this is some prestigious organization.

Cons

The current management has systematically destroyed any semblance of morale at the firm. There is little transparency or job security. In Purchase, the HQ for Wealth Management, senior management has their own private underground parking lot, private elevator, private cafeteria, and private floor. There are no town halls, and the most I have seen in the form of communication from Wealth Management leadership in the last six months was a pre-recorded 9 minute video. In an era where we aspire to work for companies with inspiring leaders who communicate openly and often, leaders we can trust and look up to, Morgan Stanley has decided to head in the completely opposite direction. I have seen dozens of VPs, EDs, and MDs leave the firm in the past year, many through annual cullings, and the remaining just got fed up and left. Just in the past year, I have seen three of my former managers leave the firm, all of whom had been with MS for 10-20 years. Things are bleak. Current leadership has no idea how to generate a profit, so instead they have been laying off people and asking 1 to do the work of 3. If you are thinking of joining this firm, don't. I was promoted to VP, was asked to manage multiple teams, and travel all around the country to speak at conferences, but despite all this I am worse off financially today than when I joined. Also don't trust all the planted glowing reviews on this site. The mood in the offices is the complete opposite of what is written here. And for all you summer interns out there, you have been warned. I have seen even some of the most shining summer analysts that accepted a full time position get discouraged after a few years and leave for greener pastures.

1.0
Jan 14, 2016

Not great

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Hard working employees. Some teams are very intelligent and good to work with (I got lucky here). Fast paced.

Cons

Terrible work life balance. NYC attitudes. Some will look at you as lazy if you don't work 12+ hours a day. Lack of internal mobility (only can make lateral moves). Only expect a promotion or more money every 2-4 years if you are lucky.

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