EY reviews

Poor pay, worked extreme hours, lack of appreciation. Business model pyramid scheme. Working young people insanely hard with high stress on low pay until they leave so that partners can earn a lot. Relies on young staff just putting up with it because they can get a better job once out the other side, because working for Big 4 is good for the resume. This may be true but it is not appropriate for EY to take advantage of this and treat staff so poorly.

The over demanding work load equals poor work/life balance for most of the EAs. Many EAs worked large amounts of over time to make ends meet which should not be the normal way to get through the day. EY pays for overtime however it was my experience that at least 50% of OT hours went undocumented as it would inevitably lead to a conversation with the admin director about why I was working so much. The conversation was never helpful and only created more stress, so me and many others just worked for free in order to meet deadlines. Having to support 4-6 + Partners at any time makes for a lose/lose situation in almost every scenario. EAs tend to be over achievers and to highly achieve when the work load is unreasonable made me feel like I was failing at every step. Mid level director did not know how to foster a positive environment and constant direction from the Toronto office was always interfering with our reality. There is also no where for an EA to move other than a team lead which, from my experience, just adds on another layer of work and stress with hardly any more pay. I really appreciated my team lead though - she was awesome.