Decent salary and benefits, poor work life balance and training
Pros
The salary and benefits are decent compared to other consulting firms. Staff are very hard working and caring, from the research assistants to the CEO. Many employees have been around for 5, 10, 15, or even 25+ years, which I think says something about the company's ability to retain talent. My division is very flexible about working from home, appointments, and telecommuting.
Cons
The company is extremely focused on its bottom line and creating shareholder value at the expense of the employee. I understand why companies need to focus on business development, but it can be extremely stressful as someone who is a junior staff member (and not in a finance or business development line of business) who is supposed to be maintaining high utilization on my projects while also being pressured to bring new business to the company. Job-specific training is almost nonexistent, even for entry-level employees without much work experience. Working on multiple projects can become extremely unwieldy given that it's not always clear who is managing which aspects of any given project. Some managers are great, but many are unprofessional and do not outline clear performance expectations or give good guidance while others micromanage to an extreme. I think it depends on which division you are in, but it can be very easy to become pigeonholed in your job and not have much room for career development and growth. Management will sing the praises of work life balance, but when it actually comes down to it, full time staff are expected to put in overtime regularly or risk not doing well on their projects.
