Morningstar London is generally a very sad place to work. Unless you come over from a more prestigious company and start in a higher-up position, it's hard to get any respect or upward mobility. Professional development is very low on the priorities list. Worst of all, "budget constraints" are used as an excuse to blatantly disregard employees' needs, even very basic needs such as personal space. One floor is completely crammed with people, there's hardly any space to move, and the company justifies it through "budget constraints". This company is doing very very well financially if you look at the cash balance.
Data team is understaffed, sales people are very arrogant and expect everything to be done right away. They also lie to potential clients about what can be done realistically, and then expect all other teams to make miracles happen with lacking resources. Not too sure about all entry-level positions available, but so far it seems that the MDP program is a complete joke. Kids coming tend to be intelligent, but generally end up doing crapwork, and even if promoted, the pay raise is held to the minimum. It seems that Morningstar wants good people for little money, and uses the financial crisis to pick up good talent cheaply.... and keep them cheap by not increasing salary.
Human resources team is very conceited and condescending at times. They generally sit in the kitchen and gossip about others.
Management is generally ignorant to employees' concerns. And finally, the pay is extremely low for London, one of the most expensive cities in the world. Pay is probably about 20-30% less than in Chicago, with London being much much more expensive. Benefits in Chicago seem outstanding, but in London, we don't even get dental insurance.
Joe Mansueto portrays himself as very generous, but in fact he is cutting costs across the board to increase profits, which are already very good. If the toilet in the London office needs to be repaired, Joe Mansueto is called up.
Summary: if you are intelligent, driven, and/or young, do NOT come here unless you have an extremely high tolerance for repetitive work with minimal prospect of advancing. I'm out of here as soon as I can afford it.
