Top 50 Consulting Firms To Work For In 2019

“VETERAN INSURGENTS” INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION OF BAIN LEADERSHIP

This penchant for passion and selfless sensibility enables Bain to rank among the top firms for Selectivity – the caliber of talent brought into the firm. Bevans frames Bain as a firm where outstanding people create extraordinary teams – a symbiosis where “my success can’t happen without your success,” he says. Bevans’ goal is as clear as it is ambitious: being the #1 choice of business talent. His cause is certainly helped by the atmosphere surrounding the firm. Bain chalked up two of its highest scores in firm leadership and business outlook – an unassailable vote of confidence in the firm’s direction. The reason for this, Bevans believes, stems from cultural buy-in and modeling.

“In terms of firm leadership,” Bevans shares, “we have a lot of veteran insurgents leading the firm. These are people who were joining the firm when it was redefining success in the industry. They’ve grown up in a culture that continuously pushes the envelope on what it means to be in a leading strategy consulting firm. To have that group leading the firm and building the next generation of leaders really does inspire a lot of confidence among the team.”

Even more, this insurgent energy trickles down throughout the organization. “It’s not just a worldwide managing director or the regional directors, but the leaders in our offices and practice areas who have deep expertise and bring a long track record of winning and a hunger to keep building on Bain’s decades of success,” Bevans adds. Our people are seeing what these people have done for their clients and how invested they are and they’re tremendously inspired by their leadership and what they have in store for the coming decades.”

Survey respondents, for the most part, agree. “Employee morale is extremely high,” writes one consultant. “Everyone is hungry for growth and excited to compete. Our private equity business is growing at breakneck speeds. Bain is rolling out new innovative offerings for clients that are leading to massive results for clients and large paydays for the firm.”

DEVOTING MORE RESOURCES TO DIVERSITY

That’s not to say Bain doesn’t have room for improvement for next year’s Consulting 50. While the firm made major strides in Hours Worked and Innovation, it remains unranked in Travel Requirements. At the same time, Bain lost .3 of a point in formal training – considered one of the firm’s calling cards. Surprisingly, respondents didn’t note any wane in Bain’s training prowess, with one respondent describing the training as “well-designed” and coming “at the right career points.” Another calls the formal training “unparalleled.” “Bain pairs you with senior consultants who invest in developing your professional skills, and hosts week-long training programs that dive deep into significant new skillsets.”

You won’t find Bain resting on its training laurels. With the pace of change accelerating each year, Bevans notes that firm is investing heavily on helping the consulting staff to identify, learn, and embrace new marketplace trends and technologies. One change he points to is digital enablement. A few years ago, it was only brought in when projects need it. Now, Bevans observes, it is integral to every field, whether it is retail, healthcare or industrial. Such advances have been game changers for Bain – and the clients that they serve. “It’s something we’ve invested a lot in from training mentoring, and internal communication perspectives. We’re going to have to continue investing going forward at a more rapid pace than we have in the past.”

Another area where Bevans expects to devote even more resources is Bain’s diversity initiatives, another area where it ranks among the best in the consulting industry. “We are as diverse and inclusive as any other place in corporate America or industry,” Bevans stresses. “We believe that to build extraordinary teams and deliver extraordinary results for our clients, you need to have a team that reflects a truly global marketplace and is diverse. Not just diverse visibly, but has diverse skills and diverse backgrounds and is also an inclusive environment where the differences are allowed to thrive and manifest themselves so they can deliver value to the client and the firm. You can’t lose sight of that as a critical underpinning of the future success of the firm.”

BCG’s STATURE CONTINUES TO RISE

On the surface, BCG had a year to forget with the 2019 Vault 50 ranking. Dig deeper into the numbers and several trends emerge. On the negative side, BCG’s average scores rose in just a third of the quality of life and work categories. In head-to-head competition, McKinsey outperformed BCG in six categories where it had posted lower scores in 2018. These included Benefits, Compensation, Business Outlook, Relationships with Supervisors, Selectivity, and Work-Life Balance. In addition, BCG remained unranked for Hours Worked, with Internal Mobility (8.596) being its lowest score thanks to a .4 of a point freefall.

Beyond that, there was plenty of silver linings. BCG notched scores above 9.75 in three key categories: Business Outlook Exit Opportunities, and Selectivity. The firm also made big survey gains in Travel Requirements and Vacation Policies – a tip of the hat to BCG’s ongoing efforts to improve quality of life for its consultants. Better yet, BCG’s stature continues to rise. The firm’s Prestige score, for example, jumped .123, the best performance of any Top 10 firm outside of Oliver Wyman.

Here’s the best part: BCG continued to receive rave reviews from staffers. One area is culture, where it ranked second only to McKinsey, “I hear so much from my friends at other firms that they feel their firm is hierarchical, ignores their work-life balance issues, and promotes competition among peers,” writes one BCG respondent. “I never feel this way about BCG. The peers in my BCG class are some of my best friends. I never feel competitive with anyone, and I feel that everyone at the firm, from my peers, to my managers, to the support staff, is always trying to root for me and support me as best as they can.”

Another area where BCG shines is Benefits, a rubric where it ranked 2nd among all consulting firms. Among the perks, writes one consultant, is a $300 exercise reimbursement along with eight weeks of paid leave for all new parents – and an additional eight weeks paid for mothers. You won’t hear many complaints about the insurance, either. “Our insurance is also AMAZING,” adds another consultant. “$5 dollar copay, no need for a primary care referral, very low co-pay for brand name drugs and I could go on. BCG really hits it out of the park with healthcare coverage.”

BCG IMPROVED…JUST NOT AS FAST AS McKINSEY

A third differentiator regularly cited by BCG survey respondents is the firm’s PTO (Predictability, Teaming and Open Communication) program. Designed to drive discussion, this program enables consultants to address traditionally taboo topics like predictable working hours. At the same time, it acts as a “personal KPI,” that helps managers understand their reports’ goals and preferences. Not surprisingly, it is BCG – and not McKinsey or Bain – that ranks among the Top 10 consulting firms for Work-Life Balance.

“BCG also actually pays close attention to the hours that we log each week, and partners personally reach out to anyone who is regularly working more than 65 hours a week,” adds another consultant. “BCG clearly cares about its employees and their quality of life, and while people complain about the hours in consulting, I find that I have rarely felt that way about BCG.”

Stephan Maldonado, Vault Consulting Editor, also points out that BCG’s ranking involved variables outside of its control. “BCG’s overall score rose this year, so I don’t think they slipped in any way,” he writes in a statement to P&Q. Also, survey responses didn’t give us any reason to believe they’re doing anything wrong, or that they’ve slipped this year. There is often some correlation between one firm’s rise and another’s dip. I think it’s more a function of McKinsey improving. Both firms fluctuated only slightly in their scores, but McKinsey did rise by .074 points. And as reflected in McKinsey’s prestige score, it is seen as even more prestigious and strong by peer consultants. In its workplace scores, it consistently ranks higher than BCG, which demonstrates the firm’s efforts to make this a better place to work for its consultants.”

WATCH OUT: STRATEGY& IS STARTING TO LIVE UP TO ITS POTENTIAL

Overall, the 2019 Vault Consulting 50 ranking served as a topsy-turvy affair. For the second consecutive year, Deloitte Consulting and Oliver Wyman retained the 4th and 5th spots respectively, accruing nominal gains in the process. Putnam Associates, a boutique powerhouse, climbed to 6th with The Parthenon Group following suit to 7th.  After tumbling from 5th to 11th over the past two years, PwC Advisory Services returned home to the Top 10 at 8th. Rounding out the Top 10 was the Bridgespan Group, which lost three places, and Accenture, which jumped from 14th to 10th.

LeapPoint lived up to its “Leap” in 2019. The Virginia-based IT consulting firm, buoyed by strong scores in Diversity and Firm Culture, produced the biggest gain by going from 47th to 27th. Less gaudy, but no less impressive, KPMG moved from 16th to 12th, with Prestige being the firm’s biggest asset. In contrast, L.E.K. Consulting tumbled five spots out of the Top 10 to 14th. Worse yet, the Brattle Group plummeted six spots to 16th. Other firms losing ground include Insight Sourcing Group (-5 to 18), Simon-Kurcher (-8 to 30), Ignyte Group (-15 to 35), Chartis Group (-11 to 39), The Cambridge Group (-20 to 44), and Dayblink Consulting (-18 to 49).

Then, there is Strategy& — or the global strategy consulting firm formerly known as Booz & Company. After being sold to PwC in 2014, Strategy& ranked 4th overall in the Consulting 50 during its maiden year. By last year, it had free-fallen down to 18th before bouncing back up to 13th in 2019, with its overall score rising by .397 of a point (with Prestige adding .629). Does this mean industry experts should set their clock back to the 2015 glory days, when the firm was expected to nip at the Big 3’s heels thanks to PwC’s resources?

Probably not yet, says Maldonado – but the future looks as promising than ever for the fledgling firm.  “I think Strategy&’s success this year is multifold,” he explains. “First and foremost, respondents to our survey acknowledge that the last several years have seen turbulence since the firm’s acquisition by PwC. However, there is an overwhelming feeling that Strategy& has finally hit its stride. It has adapted to becoming part of a much larger network and has ironed out the lasts of its integration issues. Respondents to our survey express the belief that the firm has managed to balance its own culture with that of its parent firm, and that the tension between the new guard and those who were nostalgic for the Booz & Company days has eased. Secondly, Strategy& is reaping the benefits of the brand recognition of PwC. Despite transitional pains, joining such a large firm is an incredible boon to a smaller outfit like Strategy&. Supported by the brand as well as PwC’s infrastructure and resources, Strategy& is busier than ever. Over the last year, the firm has experienced a heavy influx of new work.”

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