Things getting worse working hours wise / promotion wise - Business Unit Control UBS Employee Review

1.0
Jan 29, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Used to be a nice relaxed place to work with good working hours, people were highly skilled. Promotions were more transparent and more fair. There were many internal promotions in the past.

Cons

Pay has always been below par at UBS, but other things in the past (such as working hours) were making up for that. Working hours have increased by about 1 to 1.5 hours in Finance during the last five years (mainly last two years). THERE IS A NEW PROMOTION POLICY. Job titles such as AD, Director are more a recognition of competence - it has always been possible for a specilist with not a single diect report to become a Director for example. So promotion never meant that you are now a boss - it has always been just a recognition of competence and in the past EACH INDIVIDUAL WAS ASSESSED on his own merits. They have now introduced a NEW POLICY. Each individual is ranked against a cohort of others of the same rank. Top 10% deemed outstanding, another 20% Excellent, 40% good, 20% Need Improvements, 10% Very bad performance. New joiners are making into the middle - as would not be fair to hit them with any other rating. So existing staff have an almost 50% chance of being deemed underperforming. SELECTION INTO TOP CATEGORIES is often done on the basis of being boss's drinking buddy. Even if you make it into excellent one year, next year they might well stick you into underperformer as previous years' "undeperformers" will leave and new joiners will occupy the middle slot. Oh yes and unless consistently rated excellent (compared to others) no chance of promotion.

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5.0
Jul 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

One of the biggest pros is brand value and global credibility. UBS is a top-tier global wealth management and investment bank, so having it on your resume immediately signals experience in a highly structured, regulated, and performance-driven environment. That tends to carry weight across financial services and corporate TA roles. Another major advantage is strong learning exposure. Because UBS operates across wealth management, investment banking, asset management, and corporate functions, employees usually get exposure to complex stakeholder groups, senior leadership, and high-volume, high-stakes hiring environments. For recruiting roles specifically, that often means experience with executive searches, niche skill sets, and global requisitions.

Cons

other factor is workload during restructuring cycles or market downturns. Financial services recruiting is highly market-sensitive, so hiring freezes or sudden ramps are common. That can create uncertainty or shifting priorities in requisition ownership and pipeline planning. From a career perspective, role specialization can sometimes feel narrow. While UBS is large, some employees find they become highly specialized in one function (like wealth management or a specific region), which may require intentional effort to broaden experience.

3.0
Jun 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good Learning opportunities, Tech savvy compared to other banking / fintech companies

Cons

Too much offshore, low cost resource strategies, Gap between functional & IT resources, CS merger favored many UBS employees and massive layoffs post UBS - CS merger. Hardly any bonus or pay increments.

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