For the guys working in IB/Consulting, do you guys still get perks like luxury dining experiences, hotels and flights? Or is that a thing of the past? I've been seeing guys talking about annoying pizza parties which is not really what I was expecting of MBB/Big 5 bankers lol. Let me know (currently at a first year at a target in Canada).
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Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some insights into the perks you might expect in IB and consulting:
Investment Banking (IB) Perks:
Consulting Perks:
General Observations:
Specific Examples:
While some luxury perks still exist, they may not be as prevalent or extravagant as they once were. The focus seems to have shifted more towards practical benefits that support the demanding work schedules in these industries.
Sources: What Perks Do You Guys Get in your IBD Jobs?, Why do MBAs seem to favor consulting over banking nowadays?, Best Perks / Fringe Benefits You've Seen?, Q&A: Former MBB Consultant, Why has Consulting become more popular than IB for post-MBA career??
Outside of business travel where flights economy and hotel rate 400 are comped, I get monthly team happy hours at nice places, and occasional outings for interns/new team members/development(golf/pickleball/etc)
that’s crazy, there was this bcg consultant bragging about 5 star hotels, restaurants and business class flights, is that just not true?
Definitely not the norm. Most consultant travel is to kind of awful places in the middle of nowhere... you stay at a mid-range hotel like a Holiday Inn and get a small per diem to use at one of the 3 restaurants in town. It's not a sexy, high-class lifestyle. Most of my consultant friends were miserable after a year or two and got the F out.
Most firms do allow for business class on long-haul trips (3+ hours) but your typical junior is not flying that far so it doesn't matter much
Agree with everything except the Holiday Inn part, at least in my time. We could stay at Marriott, Hilton, etc. Also not that fancy but clearly a bit better.
Can't speak for the US but for Europe this is totally untrue. Majority of my projects (~80-90%) have been spend in major European cities (i.e. Berlin, London, Athens, Prague, Amsterdam, Stockholm) and in almost every city you could stay at the best in market properties depending on overall market demand.
In general how it works is that the company pays drastically reduced rates, particularly when you are working e.g. at a large MBB. That means the "500$/night" Ritz is actually a ~180$ night for your company.
I seriously never heard anyone in Europe staying at a Holiday Inn or other cheap hotels (granted exceptions such as fair-in-town with all hotels blocked). Other perks also include business class flights (also short haul, this is however strongly dependent on firm and also region, i.e. Italians/Spanish don't do this while German office has this benefit), black-cab/luxury cab service, team-dinners at fancy places etc.
The only thing that I have never witnessed (and this I think is a general change of generations and more progressive culture) are really fancy parties.
From what I’ve heard MBB is generally like that except for the fact that when you’re a junior you’re most likely in Idaho to consult a farm where there just isn’t enough glamorous options. If you’re going to Philly that’s a different story
Luxury perks are more of a PE and HF thing. IB/MBB are way too institutionalized to provide too much luxury to its employees.
"Luxury meal perks" = the $30 seamless being enough to add guac onto your Chipotle dinner, eaten in the office alone.
This is all a thing of the past, especially at public companies where expense control is very heavily scrutinized.
Most firms do provide business class travel for long-haul flights and decent-ish (3-4 star) hotels, but IB juniors do not travel so it doesn't really matter. Consultants do travel, but it's usually to incredibly random places, not sexy cities... enjoy the best hotel off the side of the highway in West Virginia, I suppose
Maybe a comped happy hour here or there at a local bar for intern events or "teambuilding"
buyside firm i interned at catered brekkie + lunch, seamless stipend dinner, barista and pantries with unlimited snacks. any air travel could be booked first class, and there were a ton of happy hours at fancy venues in the city. felt very luxurious to me as an intern lol
You need to name this firm bro
Second this
I know my friends in consulting who used to get that. But it was in the US. Canada is too cheap for anything, I doubt they sponsor anything fancy.
A reputable private MM bank in Chicago
Aside from the typical meals and Uber stipends, hotels are capped at 500 unless approval granted. Directors below fly economy class regardless of fight time(juniors do travel from time to time however) Couple team events here and there and employee discounts on some useless stuff. I think this is a pretty standard is it not
Live laugh love Lincoln man.
this is awful - Standard BB policy is VP and above can do business class last I heard.
International flights are standard policy business class for all employees above a certain flight duration threshold.
e.g. Toronto to New York is not eligible for business class unless you're an MD. Doesn't matter unless you're at a canadian bank i guess
I’m MBB based in London. Travel semi regularly to NY and Europe (think Zurich, Paris, Frankfurt) with limited travel to HK and Singapore.
All business class flights, stay in 5* hotels (I pick Marriott for loyalty points) and have team/ client dinners at Michelin star restaurants at least once a fortnight.
Your travel depends on the types of clients you serve. Most of my clients are in major cities, but if you serve agri/ industrials you’ll have a lot of travel to more rural areas.
The lesser quoted perk is that during months when I travel frequently I can basically expense everything and save my entire paycheck (minus rent).
Goes without saying, at the office, free breakfast, lunch and dinner allowance.
It would be interesting to know a rough frequency on 'semi-regular' and 'limited'.
You also gave the example of agri/industrials tending to travel to rural areas, could you tell us what sort of clients / areas of focus would yield the most amount of travel to the main areas, and what areas might prove to be a healthy middle-ground?
Forgive me if it sounds dumb but I had assumed that it was largely region-locked travel i.e. if at the London office, you'd largely be working in the EU and, very rarely, the US or ASEAN countries.
Semi regular - a couple of weeks every month
Limited - irregular/ ad hoc total of about a month in a year
Think about companies / types of work that lends itself to major cities. Financial services, TMT, Pharma etc are obvious sectors. What tends to be more important is function - if you’re doing a group strategy piece with the CEO you’re guaranteed to be in an urban area. If you’re doing salesforce productivity then you’ll be where the salespeople are (likely more regional).
And yes in general that is true. As you become more tenured, Partners/ Senior Partners that like you will tend to pull you into whatever it is they are doing. A few of my P/ SPs work truly globally (but within a certain sector) hence my travel schedule. Over time, if you’re good and well liked you can optimise for whatever you want (travel, sector, function, etc) by choosing who you work with.
Have to say that mbb is still doing well. Friend is doing for summer and he lives in 5 star hotels, comped 100+ each day for meals, team pretty much goes to fine dining quite a few times each week - to me that’s pretty luxurious
The day to day luxury perks are still here (MBB Europe). So fancy hotels, business class flights, regular team dinners at restaurants with stipends ~100+ per person. What is also quiet insane in Europe is that people often choose where they work, particularly e.g. for PE advisory teams. So team says lets do the last week of the project in Milan to close off with some nice aperitivo and then you fly there.
damn i should've chosen consulting instead of banking...
I can't believe that I used to work for companies that gave us BMWs and Audis as company cars. There was a small fee and the overall taxes weren't low, but it was still an almost free and new European car.
These days, most firms don't talk about company cars. Or the taxation is so wild that nobody wants them, or the brand deals are for OEMs nobody wants.
would be keen to hear whether any finance employer still has company cars. would probably make less sense in London or NYC.
MBB Assoc Consultant (2nd year now). Haven't been on a plane once. $50+ meal stipends (can order to home); have taken us to courtside games, skiing, regular happy hours, high end dinners, comped phone plan, lots of company goodies. They've been good tbh. Also on my own dime, but I can work out of other offices, so I've been to other major US cities
How do you not travel?
I work in the West Coast office and ever case I've been has been either for F100 client based out of this area or buyside diligence for a PEG also located here. Only seniors travel from this office.
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