Management has lost its direction - Senior Consultant EY Employee Review

1.0
Oct 7, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

People. Diversity. Exposure to many industries. Forced to learn a lot quickly. Offers great fund options in 401(K). Fairly equal pay and benefits. Prestigious on a resume when applying for industry accounting jobs.

Cons

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.

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Pros

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Cons

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5.0
Feb 21, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. You will have a very hard time not falling in love with every single person you meet there. 2. Seriously, you will meet your soul mate(s) there. 3. Prestigious and looks great on the resume. 4. Your brain will grow a thousand times more powerful. 5. Forces you to conquer your fear of public speaking. 6. Fun team bonding and lifelong friends. 7. Stepping stone to high paying jobs. 8. Helps you work on perfecting your charm. You will learn from the most charming people how to really get people to like you. 9. HR really cares. 10. Big support network (IT, creative services, etc.). 11. Teaches you to be calm and in control.

Cons

OK, I'm going to be discussing all the taboo things, and there are a lot of them. In spite of these cons, I still admit it's worth a five star rating. 1. High performers are "designated" (you have very little control over your rating) by the partner group (can be a pro if you get selected. Seriously, I have worked with some of the supposed "fives" and they are not any different than my threes and fours. 2. Quality is extremely low. Sometimes I felt like I was working at McDonalds and not a professional services firm. The emphasis is on getting through work as fast as possible and expectations for quality are not realistic. 3. EY has a very hard time firing bad employees. If you get stuck with one it can be a nightmare. 4. EY has a heavy emphasis on wasting time. For example, there are lots and lots of checklists which have no value that you have to fill out. Also, they wasted money and time on creating "Canvas" which is literally slower and more awkward than the previous workspace tool, GAMX. There is a heavy emphasis on "reinventing the wheel" and fixing problems that aren't broken with even worse solutions. Instead of wasting money on useless tools, that money could have been spent on your employees in the form of compensation. Like I said, EY is really focused on attempting to look as though value is being created when in fact it is not. 5. Lots of meetings. Appearances are very important. 6. Employees on global 360 accounts get better treatment. 7. Some employees (executives mostly) tend to overemphasize how important this work is. Let's face it, if it was really glorious work then we would have action figures. 8. Looks are very important. Seriously, if you are a girl, you will get promoted based on how hot you are (the quality of your work is largely unimportant). If you are a guy, you are treated a little better but there is still a sexist undercurrent in the environment. This is advice you won't get from HR obviously, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. 8. You will be forced to eat hours. 9. Your ethical compass will start to get weaker. 10. You will get a little cynical. 11. Lots of driving and travel. 12. "Family men" and married couples with children are more likely to be promoted. If you want to be a partner, you have to be married (few exceptions). 13. You will work on vacations. 14. Loss of relationships with family and friends. 15. Some backstabbing and credit-stealing (but not very common). 16. Comp is below market but that's to be expected. 17. Employee retention is not something management is interested in. This makes you replaceable and expendable (yes even as a manager, unless you have been "designated" as a high performer by the partner group).

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