Vantaggi
Microsoft offers very generous benefits. The cost of medical, dental, vision, legal, AD&D, and life insurance for a family of 3 was less than $80/month. Microsoft also offers 401K match, employee stock purchase program, tuition reimbursement, adoption reimbursement, and a fitness/health reimbursement. Pending your team and your manager, work/life balance and flexibility can fluctuate. In my case, we were "required" to be in the office one day/per week, but was not enforced. Other team leaders require you to badge into an office 1-3 times/week.
Svantaggi
"Culture." This is a hot-button word leadership and sr. leadership like to tote around, but the reality is the shareholders heavily influence the culture and future of the org. The 10,000+ layoffs this year (2023) no or very limited raises this year "due to economic times" came as both a shock and a disappointment, as the organization has had a record-breaking year (again) and is looking to spend $69,000,000,000 in CASH for Activision/Blizzard. It does not seem to add up. "Diversity + Inclusion" is another hot-button word Microsoft likes to use, but the company only cares about diversity of color, not diversity of thought. DEI here just checks a box and feels more like pandering than actually doing anything of substance. Benefits - while the benefits are excellent here, they vary greatly per role. The company likes to talk about being "one Microsoft." Still, there is a huge disparity of benefits and rewards between retail/hourly workers and corporate Microsoft, also referred to as "greater" Microsoft. Corporate employees get higher stock/bonuses/rewards, have 3x the amount allotted for fitness reimbursement, and have higher tuition reimbursement than hourly workers (data centers, stores, digital sales reps, etc.). I understand there may be different rewards for perceived differences in value/ROI, but don't pretend to be "one Microsoft" if all is not equal. Paid time off - Microsoft used to have accrued time off based on length of service. This meant you earned your time off. However, the org recently moved to "unlimited discretionary time off (DTO)." On paper, this is great; at the discretion of your manager, there is no longer a cap on the amount of time you can take off. It also looks great on paper to say "unlimited time off." The issue is that it is discretionary. Instead of telling your manager when you would like to take time off based on your earned PTO, you now have to ask permission. Your manager is now free to tell you "no" if it does not align with the needs of the business.