EY reviews

High stress. High unpaid OT hours. Not enough recognition. Increased work weeks to 45 hours without additional compensation (and at the time, no additional vacation accrual). Wages – Extremely low pay relative to required education, licensing, and hours put in. "Pay in prestige" is a ridiculously dated concept. Benefits – Unimpressive. Very low 401(K) match beginning after 1 year of work. Parental leave is ok by American standards but pretty awful for the West. "Unlimited vacation" – You don't accrue vacation and will therefore not get paid out unused days when you separate with the firm. In this system, you don't use earned vacation time. You request to take vacation on the firm's time. This leads to an inherent incentive to not use much vacation due to pressure from higher ranking members on your engagement team needing work to get done and not taking vacation themselves. Technology is terrible. Management constantly spins things in a positive light or sweeps it under the rug (Vision 2020). I have never heard management admit they failed to achieve anything. No longer have down time after busy season because the firm has largely filled in that time with new engagements to produce more revenue. It used to be a perk of the job. I have never heard the CEO speak. He doesn’t communicate with us. Contrary to what the firm will tell you, they did have layoffs after the 2008 financial crisis, and they are having layoffs in response to COVID-19. They're cleverly rebranding it as "performance based layoffs" while actively lowering the bar for performance. Further, they didn't announce layoffs one day and then conclude. They announced layoffs would be occurring over a period of months, leaving us all to live with added anxiety waiting for the day where we will be told they are finally over. Upper management lacks true diversity. While I'm sure EY is working towards fixing this, they have always positioned themselves as leaders in this area yet failed to lead. *Please note most of these complaints are at a national level, but they will affect your everyday work life. The regional office is actually great and full of amazing people. I would recommend this office if I wasn’t concerned about the leadership of the national firm as a whole.

Each partner considers him/her to be a divine gift to mankind and therefor can never be incorrect. What they say should be accepted and not challenged. Most of the time, the team members are indirectly advised to fall in line with the partner's decision. Strategy and Operations/ OTS and sub-practices within are all teams that will over promise and under deliver. Internal talent is never recognized but instead imported from outside as experienced hires. Each partner control their team as a kingdom and if someone asks to try different teams, the partner takes it personally. By the way, this directly contradicts what the overall leader would otherwise communicate through their forums, thereby leaving everyone confused. Performance management systems are never looked into. Decisions are made based on partner's likes and dislikes of a person. If a partner likes someone, even if he/she is a dud, you can see that person growing fast. When one is given a promotion or a decent bonus, the partner will come to take credit for how they fought hard to get it instead of attributing it to the recipient hard work. Have come across several new hires regretting their decision to join the team. Self-respecting individuals should keep away from this firm. don't get carried away by the big 4 brand name. you will regret joining this firm. If you have better options, don't join. If you are finding the going tough in your current firm, just put up with it till you find a better opportunity.