Consulting Lifestyle Post Covid: Will it be as bad as IB?
Hello, my firm just announced in their return to work policy that travel would not be returning to full swing and perhaps be limited to three days a week or every other week. The reason I liked consulting was because of the travel aspect/being at the client site and I, honestly, am tired of sitting in front of my desk all day. What are y’all’s thoughts on the future of consulting and quality of life - will we ever see the perks we had before again?
Mrspeaker20, sorry there are no responses yet. Maybe one of these topics can point you in the right direction:
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If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...
What firm do you work at? Do you think that this decrease in travel will be standard across the consulting industry?
I am interested in lateraling to consulting from IB but want to limit travel.
If you want to limit travel you can also look at the strategy firms that focus more on CDD type work; travel was significantly less frequent there even before COVID times.
I did exclusively due diligence and growth strategy, never worked a weekend, maybe traveled a cumulative 8 weeks during my 2-3 years in consulting.
A friend from my MBA program going to Deloitte said she heard the firm will have their consultants travel M-Th every other week after COVID as opposed to every week or 3 days a week. Not a bad deal, if you ask me. You still get to travel semi-regularly and accrue enough points (albeit at half the pace) to where it's still a perk, but you get to spend time at home and maintain some semblance of sanity during the grind.
Any idea about MBB? My thoughts are that if a client is willing to shell out enough money for an MBB client, then they will probably want them on site. Thoughts?
Can confirm, at least 2/4 B4 firms for consulting and UK CF functions (M&A etc) are doing the Mon-Thursday approach post-Covid.
Is this M-Th every OTHER week or every week?
WLB will be fine. Lifestyle for those who indirectly suffered from McKinsey's prominent role in the Opiod crisis is pretty brutal however.
Firms can set whatever expectations or policies they'd like but the reality is if the client wants the team onsite every week Monday through Thursday, that's what will happen. Of course, partners may try to push alternates or negotiate flexibility with the client but let's not kid ourselves - this is a client services business and the client will always get what they want.
Post-COVID travel will 100% depend on what the client wants. As much as leadership across MBB are touting new ways of working that are more flexible and sustainable, at the end of the day if a client wants junior consulting staff on site M-Th every week, then the analysts better dust off their Tumis and renew their TSA Precheck.
The flip side of it is some clients have gotten used to the slightly lower billing rates charged by firms when travel is not included in the budget. If clients want consultants back on site, they'll certainly be charged more, and then will definitely expect the same or higher levels of productivity each week as consultants have been able to churn out over the last 1.25 years of WFH.
The implication is that junior staff who are forced to travel will lose ~1 full day of work time each week (Monday morning & Thursday evening commute), while still being expected to produce the same amount of work during that time. As a 1st year at MBB who interned in 2019 and experienced the travel lifestyle - if I am called back on site for my next client, I will immediately go on transition and start looking to exit.
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