Deeply toxic culture in compliance division - Associate Goldman Sachs Employee Review

2.0
28 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The brand name of Goldman Sachs still opens doors. You’ll meet some capable peers trying to survive the environment

Cons

Toxicity in Compliance is not an exception—it is normalized and, at times, modeled by leadership. Managers who lack subject matter depth continue to hold power without meaningful accountability. A culture of blame-shifting dominates: when things go wrong, responsibility flows downward; when things go right, credit flows upward. Unprofessional and often crass communication is tolerated, which erodes basic respect in the workplace. Feedback is neither safe nor acted upon, making improvement nearly impossible. Decision-making lacks transparency and is frequently driven by internal politics rather than competence or outcomes. There is a visible disconnect between compensation and contribution at certain leadership levels, which demotivates high-performing team members.

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5.0
24 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people deal flow pay

Cons

Bureaucratic at times across offices

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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