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MBAs LESS SATISFIED WITH CONSULTING

In last year’s Vault 50 ranking, MBAs working in consulting were far more satisfied with their work than peers who held just an undergraduate degree. In fact, the only categories where bachelor’s degree holders were happier involved their firm’s philanthropy and travel requirements.

Fast forward to 2016 and the inverse is true. Among the 2,856 MBAs included in the survey, where nearly three-fourths of the population was male and 65% were Caucasian, most were less happy with their peers. Take quality of life issues, for example. In 2015, MBAs averaged a 7.741 on work hours, which slipped to 7.732 this year. Compare that to Bachelor’s degree holders, whose satisfaction rose from 7.725 to 7.886. In other words, undergrad scores rose nearly .16 of a point. That may seem insignificant, but the trend holds true with travel requirements, work/life balance and vacation policy, areas where MBAs found great satisfaction last year.

Bachelor’s degree holders were also more likely to hold higher opinions of their firm’s leadership, culture, innovativeness, exit opportunities, and formal and informal training (other areas in which MBAs had given higher marks in 2015). In fact, their overall level of satisfaction was higher than MBAs by an 8.195-to-8.095 margin (compared to an 8.014-to-8.173 margin the previous year – almost a .2 of a point reversal).

That said, MBAs continued to score their firms higher in areas that would traditionally play to their strengths: Client interaction, supervisor relationships, promotions, internal mobility, the ability to challenge, and international opportunities. Even there, MBAs’ scores were slipping. For example, satisfaction with compensation fell from a 7.819 to a 7.701, with internal mobility slipping from 7.702 to 7.539 over the past year among the MBA set. Most notably, international opportunities scores plummeted from 7.596 to 7.096 among MBAs, which (when coupled with lower compensation, benefits, promotion policy, and internal mobility scores), indicate belt tightening in many firms.

Could this portend an exodus of MBAs away from consulting? Or, is it a one year blip that could originate from a difference in the sample than the previous year? Stott wasn’t sure when he spoke with Poets&Quants. Overall, Stott wasn’t particularly surprised by the results of this year’s ranking.

“I don’t know that there’s anything we saw that was particularly earth-shaking this year. The major trend…was that consultants seemed happier and more optimistic in general–which I took as a positive sign for the industry in particular and the economy in general.”

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