The consulting group is a classic example of how treating your employees poorly leads to a vicious cycle of high attrition rate, strained staffing, and further burn out on everyone.
- Below average compensation: pay is below standard (>10% below market standard) and annual raise (<2%) and bonus (~10% because the company has a hard time hitting its target - not surprising given so many problems within the firm) are a complete joke; IMS is known to be a cheapskate in pay but there's a glimpse of hope now that it's merged with Quintiles
- Highly political: if you belong to the "favorite" group you're looking at fast track promotion and lots of traveling/client facing opportunities, otherwise expect office only work and long promotion time despite meeting or exceeding performance targets; those "favorite"s in the office can walk right over other team members in the office without any consequences, talk about a "collaborative" culture ...
- Dismissive senior team: you raise an issue, you're told to suck it up; you voice your concern about a lack of personal and professional development, you're given stock answer without any real action taken to address the deficiency - collectively these create a feeling that the firm has no real interest in helping you grow (which is unfortunate because the associate/asso consultant are the very foundation of all projects and proposals)
- Young (immature) team members: because of the poor compensation and political environment, >70% of associate/assoc consultant/consultant leave in less than 2 years, compounded by the fact that the firm has no interest in hiring/paying experienced consultants, many projects are ran by 24, 25 years old who lack life experience, leadership, and maturity. The result? Disgruntled supporting team members and high attrition rate
Past century infrastructure support: laptops are usually 2nd (or 3rd) hand and break often, requesting any kind of equipment (that would facilitate your productivity) takes a tremendously complex approval process (and a long wait time), everything points to the firm's indifference in supporting its employees (which ultimately loops back to its own quality of work and revenue target)