THROUGHOUT THE DOWNTURN, which has forced it to make significant redundancies, Morgan Stanley continued to keep its employees motivated with strong leadership, its philanthropic policies and good career prospects, leaving them feeling good about the company. The financial services firm ranks in the top 10 overall on these four categories in our staff survey. Its workforce believes the company is run on strong principles (a 74% positive score) and people have a great deal of faith in the UK leader, Walid Chammah (71%), ranking the firm sixth and seventh respectively on these two questions. Morgan Stanley invests £2,000 per head a year on training, which includes courses on everything from communication skills to people management and organisational savvy, which means there are opportunities to learn and grow (65%, a top five score) and staff don't have to look far for examples of where the job can take them. More than 730 senior managers were promoted internally. Employees consequently find the firm good for their personal growth, (77%, a result bettered by just five other firms). The work is stimulating (72%), gives valuable experience for the future (75%) and people feel they can make a difference within the business (74%). Sharing knowledge is part of the culture at Morgan Stanley and, in the light of the economic climate, senior management has increased the number of meetings, "lunch and learn" seminars and breakfast briefings it holds with staff. This access to the leadership and regular updates on business developments means the workforce is confident in the leadership skills of bosses (73%, a top 10 score) and this filters down to their managers, who are good listeners (70%). Morgan Stanley has also continued to put its corporate social responsibility high on the agenda. It is halfway through a three-year project to raise £10m for Great Ormond Street hospital and last year 2,500 staff undertook charitable activities in work hours, from creating accessible pathways for disabled users at an activity centre to giving a school playground a makeover. Staff feel it is putting enough back into the community (61%, the sixth highest score on this question). As you might imagine, employees are well remunerated. Associates can expect to earn almost £53,000 and more than two-thirds of staff make in excess of £45,000, on top of which there is a discretionary performance-based bonus. You don't get paid well for nothing, however, and employees can feel they spend too much time working (a positive score of just 44%, the second lowest result). Yet they would not leave tomorrow if they were offered another job (68%, a top 10 score) and are proud to be part of the firm (79%). www.morganstanley.com