- Management consultants are burning out and quitting their jobs because of long hours stuck at home.
- Consulting and accounting firms are responding with bonuses, perks, and pay raises.
- BCG gave its consultants 180,000 Marriott points to make up for missing out on travel rewards.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Some of the Big 3 consulting firms and the Big 4 — top accounting firms that also run competitive consulting businesses — are taking steps to keep their young talent happy.
Prestigious consultancies haven’t made moves quite on the same scale as the cash bonanza rippling through Wall Street banks, financial firms, and big law firms, where young talent is being showered with tens of thousands of dollars in special bonuses, base-pay hikes, all-expense-paid vacations, and Peloton bikes.
But some consulting firms are offering smaller incentives to encourage people to take vacation time, make up for lost travel perks, and hand staff some extra money.
Many young consultants have had to adjust to a new normal during the past year that has involved limited travel, little face-to-face interaction with clients, and the expectation for some to log 100-hour remote workweeks.
In normal times, management consultants at top firms like BCG, Bain, and McKinsey are on the road frequently meeting with clients in person, and the jet-setting lifestyle is attractive to many young professionals.
In its absence, many young consultants are burning out and quitting their jobs, which often come with a six-figure salary right out of business school.
Trying to keep track of which management-consulting and -accounting firms are rolling out special perks, bonuses, and raises across their junior ranks? Here’s our running list.
Boston Consulting Group
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) recently gave its consultants 180,000 Marriott points to make up for the travel perks they haven’t been able to accumulate over the past year, Insider previously reported.
Hotel loyalty programs reward frequent travelers with points and perks to incentivize them to continue staying at a specific hotel chain. The points can then be redeemed for free hotel stays, upgraded travel packages, and other experiences.
For management consultants, who are frequently on the road, racking up travel rewards at hotel chains and airlines as part of the jet-setting lifestyle is seen as one of the gig’s top perks.
With 180,000 points, you could get two nights at the luxury St. Regis resort in Bora Bora, French Polynesia, where villas are about $1,800 a night.
PwC
PwC, a top accounting firm that also has a consulting business, in April introduced a program that offers employees $250 each time they take a full week of vacation time, up to four times or $1,000, a firm spokesperson told Insider via email.
The perk “reinforced our commitment to our people’s well-being and recognizes the importance of disconnecting,” the firm said.
PwC also gave all of its US staff one week of extra pay as a special bonus on top of its existing bonus structure.
KPMG
KPMG, another accounting firm, implemented multiple perks such as undisclosed midyear compensation adjustments, a summer break where the firm will be closed the week of July 5, and “Jumpstart Fridays,” when professionals can log off of work early on Fridays in the summer, a spokesperson told Insider via email. The summer break and shortened Friday workdays were first introduced last year and will be implemented again in 2021.
The firm has rolled out additional benefits and changes recently to combat burnout and promote healthy workloads, including weekly “heads-down” time for employees to work without meetings and other distractions, eliminating video meetings on Fridays, shortening 30- and 60-minute meetings to 25 and 50 minutes, and pushing everyone’s meeting availabilities back an hour each morning.
McKinsey
The management-consulting behemoth is offering special COVID-19 bonuses “in the thousands of dollars” to all nonpartner employees that will be paid in two installments, one now and another later this year, sources told insider. While everyone will be considered for a bonus, the amounts, which are being calculated as a percentage of base salary, will be prorated for employees who haven’t been working at the firm for the entirety of the pandemic.
The firm declined to give details on compensation matters.
Meanwhile, on Wall Street, firms have been bumping junior talent’s pay by tens of thousands of dollars or offering incentives like $40,000 special bonuses. And big law firms, many of which are also awarding special COVID-19-related bonuses to nonpartners in two installments this year, are paying talent between $12,000 and $64,000.
Is your consulting firm offering bonuses or perks? We want to know about it. Contact the reporter, Samantha Stokes, at sstokes@insider.com or on Signal at 646-389-7866.
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