CBRE is a real estate advisory firm, a vendor to its client
Pros
This review is specially for global workplace services on the Microsoft account. Not all accounts are the same. Microsoft relies heavily on CBRE to carry out their real estate services and the partnership is strong and positive. As a vendor, you get immense exposure to perhaps one of the greatest companies of the world; learning best practices in the industry. The pure scale of the account is fascinating and the experience will be invaluable to your career. Nice people on the account are great, and they will care for your growth. Once you get into the account, there are many different teams and options. Work-life balance is good for the most part because management is extremely flexible. Many people leave in the afternoon to pick up their kids from school or whatnot, and finish up emails at home. There is no WFH policy, so it is very acceptable as long as you get your work done.
Cons
Structurally, they operate from the typical, old-fashion, top-down approach where "senior" positions have all of the authority and avoids 2-way communication. In short, managers talk down to you because they're not incentivized to be nice. The benefits are crappy, to say the least. I opted out of health insurance because the contributions are unusually high for such a large company. Sick days & PTO are the same, and they must be accrued. You begin with zero. Unless you make over $100k, then you are granted more leeway with PTO. Employees privately discuss how low their compensation is compared to industry standards in the same city. You must look after yourself and what your starting compensation is as it will dictate your long term comp over time, even with vertical movement. If they promise you movement during the interview, take it with a grain of salt. If you do well in your position, they would rather have you stay there because finding a backfill is more work for them. Be proactive and be intentional about movement if that's what you want.
