Good Company and Experience, but Unfortunate Layoff
Pros
Where can I begin—EY is a Big 4 firm, so you get the clout, culture of excellence, resources and wide spread of industries and expertise. The LA office is a media powerhouse and is the second largest EY office in the U.S.— they remodeled sometime around 2020/2021, so the internal aesthetic is great. Benefits were reasonable, if not solid, and you most likely will be placed in the industry you select in your application. Return to office (hybrid) gave ample opportunity for networking and team dialogue. They bumped the salary for us after the first week of training by 15% so of course we were all happy.
Cons
The happiness was relatively short-lived after “low performers” were cut during the year-end and annual culling period. Notices of Unsatisfactory Performance were distributed to employees as early as winter 2025 to flag down employees potentially slated for separation. Standard cost-cutting and business management explain this, as much Staff-level work was sent abroad (reasonable as offshore colleagues are awesome in the own right). If your team decides you are out, you’ll need to sink or swim as long as you can. These NUPs were full of petty call-outs not interested in long-term career growth and indicated a great opportunity for growing EY stars writing them to get some much-needed leadership training. Politics show up across many workplaces, and EY is no exception. Opportunities for growth are present, but at the end of the day, still limited since all your colleagues are going for them, too.
