Toxic culture, micromanagement, and lack of support - Senior Associate Goldman Sachs Employee Review

1.0
29 May 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Brand name on your resume - Exposure to high-pressure, high-volume workflows - Some colleagues are hardworking and sharp

Cons

- Culture is deeply hierarchical and fear-driven — mistakes are not tolerated, even minor ones, and employees often shift blame onto others to protect themselves - Extreme micromanagement, with very little room for independent thought or growth - Toxic team dynamics; some coworkers were hostile, uncollaborative, and competitive to a fault - Feedback is often personal or harsh, rather than constructive - Compensation is low for the workload and stress - Very little psychological safety — hard to speak up or ask for support

Explore other reviews about Goldman Sachs

5.0
3 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Best in class; great people

Cons

None that I can think of

2.0
23 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You’ll get to work with the latest technologies depending on the team you’re in and also have a decent work-life balance. They give you a good amount of vacation days and let you use them whenever you want. You get to work with people who are good and smart and barely hear of any bad people who make your life hard. Taking internal mobility to other teams would also be super easy out here and they encourage it.

Cons

The pay increases are very bad. As you get promoted and grow, your pay will only increase about 3-5% no matter how good your performance is and you’ll feel like you’re barely beating inflation if you’re lucky. Your pay will be massively under the market for your role. Not to mention, there’s a huge risk of layoffs and it happens twice a year. You’ll end up being a part of it if you’re working from home a lot or express your dissatisfaction with your pay (although they mostly brush it off as a performance or a budget/role issue). The risk you take from the layoffs is not worth the reward you get. If you’re taking this job and reading this review, just consider this job as a stone you can step on while looking for another job to switch to

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