Vantaggi
Pretty good benefits. Strong work ethic. Dedication to best practices (in theory, at least). Opportunities for varied work exist, but emphasis on "work" instead of "career development". Global presence offers opportunities to work in different locations, depending on department. Compensation overall was decent during credit crisis / recession.
Svantaggi
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.