Work/Life Balance in Consulting?
Currently interning in investment banking and though the summer hasn't been too bad so far, I'm not sure if I can do the lifestyle for 2+ years. My problem with it isn't just the hours themselves, but how it seems like you are never completely off of work and always alert of possible emails with more work. I have been interested in consulting for a while now, though did not do very well in the internship recruitment process before I had to accept my offer and thinking of trying again for full time. I think the type of work and exits into corporate development interest me more than banking to potential bayside as well. I know travel can get tiring, but how "free" is your off time? Do consultants get to actually detach from work during weeknights or at least on the weekend? I have typically heard of people talk about MBB+tier 2 together, but are any firms considered particularly good or bad in terms of lifestyle? Only heard of LEK being noticeably more hours than others but don't know much else.
OW perspective:
Pros: You can fully detach on weekends and recharge. During the week you are working closely with your team so there is no stress of getting a random request at 10 pm that you have to pull an all nighter for. On the average day, have enough time for 7/8 hours of sleep, 1 hr of personal time, and a short break for dinner.
Cons: Pay gap. All your time is "active" work and no waiting around, so more mentally taxing. While you maintain way more sanity with the shorter hours and healthier culture, you probably end up burning out anyways, at which stage you exit after 2 years at 120-150K rather than 150K-250K from IB
Thanks for the response. It actually made me think of a follow up. In regards to pay, do you think you are able to save more with having most of your weekday expenses covered and being to collect points for some of your other spending? I am also considering consulting in my university's regional office, so I imagine the cost of living also would help bridge the gap vs doing ib in the New York office. Im sure IB still makes more, but just wondering if the gap narrows by any meaningful amount in terms of how much you're actually able to save and invest at the end of the day.
Also OW perspective: Jasper is pretty spot on, and I'd say that in general the numbers for hours worked Jasper put out is for Covid. On an average project pre covid you can expect to be off work at about 10pm.
With regards to your follow up question, it really depends on how frugal a lifestyle you want to live. Yes you are saving on expenses Mon-Thu but you are still paying for an apt full time. You really aren't saving that much more than a peer who's not traveling. Points is nice but I really wouldn't count on that these days with covid, and a potential shift in general working model with a heavier emphasis on WFH.
This is a great response, agree with everything said. Hours in consulting are less but they are far more intense. Weekends are typically protected.
Only thing I might argue with is the pay gap on exit. Sure, if you go to PE/HF then there’s a gap, but that’s highly competitive even as a banker, and if you’re at an MBB you can get PE. MBB perspective by the way.
Anecdotal, but my dad works in big 4 consulting and he's rarely "off" in terms of work stuff. It's better now that he's more senior because he can just ignore people, but I think juniors are still pretty attentive to their emails even when it's not technically working hours
Will give perspective for Deloitte S&O + Tech for undergrads. As long as you don't over commit to firm initiatives, unless you're on a high burn project, you should have some downtime Mon-Thurs to workout. It's a bit tough on travel days, but it can be done. Fridays are typically laid back, light work with a bunch of meetings, but most try to log off by 2/3pm. Majority of weekends are completely free. I did weekend work (non firm initiative related) maybe 5 or 6 times during my 3 years at the firm. Only twice did it take a significant portion of my weekend.
For most projects, I absolutely felt like I had a decent WLB, no where near my friends in industry, but I think it's a nice trade off to take pretty sick unforgettable vacations using all the hotel/airline points.
Wow that sounds pretty good, were there any prominent cons in your experience? I go to school in DC so there's more recruitment towards Deloitte's federal consulting and I think I would rather be in the regular S&O arm.
Federal consulting at D is very chill from what I've seen. Most of the analysts are working no more than 45-50hrs/week, some clients cap you at 40hrs/week. Sounds like a dream, but they are paid a lot less. Also, the slower pace of work and being on engagements that are 8-12+ months long effects your learning curve and growth. Def a great job for someone who is mid-career with a family who wants a chill role til retirement, maybe not the best for an ambitious new graduate. That said, that was from me speaking with many human capital and tech consultants in the federal practice, Federal S&O maybe different.
Prominent cons in my experience really were from the rare high burn projects with not so great managers/client, and the potential of getting stuck on a long engagement (6+ months). I personally disliked being on a case that was longer than 4 months.
Overall, I enjoyed my time at Deloitte, and would recommend it to most undergrads.
EY perspective - work live balance has gone to shit for most people I have talked to because every project is trying to over-promise and arouse the client.
Most projects are hit or miss - if you have incompetent top brass or your team over-promises and never defends you, you will burn out. I have had to send emails at 2-3 am before to protect my team, and I make sure that shit is visible.
Don't get sucked into corporate jargon....you are a resource that can be utilized for a fixed rate. If you do not firmly set a guardrail, people will walk over you. 2X so if you don't even speak up.
Oh man sorry to hear that. When you say gone to shit, do you mean recently due to COVID or was it trending that way beforehand too?
COVID - Live from work balance, not work-life balance.
If your senior managers are leading you down a rabbit hole of pointless busy work to jack the client off, they are going to be up late, sending requests down the chain all the way to the junior/staff consultants (because home is the office, its not like these requests will be ignored).
If your juniors are up and sending back revisions and questions late, your seniors-> senior managers are going to be up late circulating more revisions, reviewing, and finding more busy work.
Interestingly, I have noticed on my engagement and others that managers are essentially unchanged - they basically act as messengers in this process - the ones that were overworked are still overworked, and the ones that could ignore asinine bs "value-add" out-of-scope projects are still ignoring it. I would be curious to hear from others (at least at the big 4) if this is something happening as well.
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