| Category | Rating |
|---|
| Pay | -3 |
| Respect | -5 |
| Benefits | -3 |
| Job Security | -5 |
| Work/Life Balance | -4 |
| Career Potential/Growth | -3 |
| Location | -3 |
| Co-worker Competence | 3 |
| Work Environment | -4 |
Pay: Salary is based on a 45 hour week, so it's important to factor that in. I don't believe this is openly communicated during the interview process. The bonuses are plentiful, but there are too many loop holes that benefit the firm: 1: deferred payments of up to a year after you've earned the bonus 2: travel incentives that diminish quickly if you were to miss days due to vacation, sickness, appointments.
Respect: Easily the worst rating in my opinion. I wish I can rate this 4 times, so I can give a -20. National and upper regional management (with a rare couple exceptions) only care about making the sale. The firm's line is that the resource is put first, but as with many businesses, the almighty dollar is king. Chances are if a resource interviews for a client, the only sincere inquiry by management will be how it went, as opposed to how the resource feels about the position. Once deployed, management will only check in if they feel there is an opportunity for a sale (within that project or in other areas of the client), without any concern for the resource's well-being. In addition, management (other than the TL) will not make any attempt to contact you (phone, email, etc) while you are deployed, again, unless there is a sales opportunity. I have seen several resources roll off of difficult and demanding projects and back onto the bench, only to be laid off shortly thereafter, without any regard or loyalty to the service that the resource provided during a difficult time. If one makes the argument that some the firm is just doing away with the non-A team players, my response to that is, why wait until these so-called non-team players roll back to the bench. If the argument is really true, then the firm should take the resource off the project and fire them immediately, as opposed to having the contract with the client expire. Again, the dollar rules that transaction.
As for the other areas in general, the environment reflects a very low morale, especially on the bench, as the resources know that the firm will only lay off those on the bench, even before the economic woes. Therefore, a heightened sense of uneasiness. The conference calls and national meetings are nothing but a tribute to the CEO, staged by his loyal goons as a productive call or an energizing retreat (which is billed as the CEO's sacrifice to the firm and resources. Could have fooled me with all the pro-CEO propaganda that is floated around in those few days at the retreat).
I don't think that is part of the big 4 culture, unless I missed all the praises to Samuel Price & Edwin Waterhouse (PwC), William Deloitte & George Touche (D&T), and so on.
It is saddening how management and those aspiring to move up quickly in the firm will go to show their love, without any decency or self-respect.