Pros
My comments considers my 10+ years of experiences at various financial institutions and evaluates on a relative basis.
*Great work life balance, the best of any firm I've worked at
*Mostly collaborative colleagues, and people who genuinely want to help you.
*Bankers enjoy high degree of freedom
*Less political than other firms due to flat structure
*Management who tries to be transparent
*Great place for retirement, or for pretending to be working.
Cons
Having worked at several banks, I'm sure of the following:
*Benefits are behind peers unless you are a banker - more so if you are not a banker. Different tiers of benefits for bankers vs. non-bankers, even if one is in the same grade - super odd.
*Days of annual Leave is behind peers
*Compensation is slightly behind peers
*Beyond bankers, ie. Investment team, one is not paid for performance
*Limited upward mobility, unless someone leaves or retire
*Because bankers are the most important people here, sometimes a few individuals borderline use that to their advantage to pressure people to get their way.
*If you're white, and especially Swiss white, its clear that there is favoritism
*Asians have to work hard (ie. global flexible working policy, Asia management deliberately exludes Asia employees)