Pros
Community • A good community and culture across all offices • Good work-life balance (dependent on client demands) • Contributions to the firm are valued and more visible
Cons
Worrying concerns What's being marketed during interview did not match reality • During the interview process, interviewers sold a generous bonus and rewards structure (even with proof of a structure in place) – this never happened after joining, with ‘it’s our discretion’ being a favourite management phrase. • Offered a standard holiday allowance – In reality however, a part of it is used as mandatory holidays during the Christmas furlough. This means you have fewer 'free-to-use' holidays. Learning and development • Limited learning and opportunities across the board. • Difficult to get support of management to pursue learning and development activities while on client project. And if you are trying to discover and build your area specialisation, you will unlikely get any support if it doesn’t align with the business’s direction. • Limited client projects to expand width and breadth of experience and expertise- you risk getting stuck on a project for a very long time with no chance of exit. Career progression and rewards • Performance framework structure is a right mess despite many attempts to ‘improve it’, Despite colleagues efforts to meet their expectations at level, career progression discussion does not seem to be based fully on merit, with the bonus distribution completely incoherent. Management struggles to explain why this is the case and claim it is an ‘extremely complex’ process. • Promotion cycles keep getting cut back • A rather pointless feedback recognition system that discourages rather than reward– instead of rewarding colleagues when positive feedback is received, you get entered into a 'draw' to win prizes. This means you may receive positive feedback all year round but fail to get rewarded because you didn’t ‘win’ the draw. • Colleagues (especially analysts and consultants) are being overworked and squeezed to the bone, with little reward and recognition. To worsen things- there is a lack of a proper support structure in place, especially when it comes to managing mental health.
