(Deloitte US) Blackmail of Staff to Perform Work for Free, 'Rank and Yank' HR Practice
Pros
Culture of excellence, awesome career challenges, work with best in class peers, some inspiring leaders, and competitive benefits IF you miraculously worked 40-45 hours; (see CONS)
Cons
Where to start?? How about with my headlines. Most places expect you to work 40 hours a week. Some places a bit more. Few have have leadership (PPDs) who make an *average* of $600k annually, but blackmail junior staff (who make a tiny fraction of PPD income) into working for free by calling it a "Firm Contribution". Pardon? Contributions are what feed the poor, house the homeless, and teach struggling kids. Deloitte made $30 Billion (USD) last year. The partners are the least in need of a "contribution" . Yet if staff fail to make this 'contribution' they will either not get promoted, or they will be shown the door. Contribution used to be based on number of hours, but is moving to "impact" namely how much money did your slave labor bring into the firm? If the impact isn't great enough, if you didn't "contribute" enough, (regardless of other performance metrics) please bring your badge and laptop to a meeting with HR. So maybe you make $140k, but if you tally it up against the hours asked of you, you really only make $75k versus working for a sane, ethical organization that doesn't extort free work from you. I'll save some text here; Google "Rank and Yank" to understand how HR and evaluations work. 10% are cut from Deloitte annually, no matter what. I've had some awesome couselees kicked to the curb because they missed some minor metric, even if overall they were star performers. It makes for both a revolving-door culture for most people, and as noted in some other reviews, nepotism for the folks who want to get to PPD. You will not make it to partner based on performance and client reviews, or even your book of business, unless you trip over some multi-million dollar opportunity. *WHO YOU KNOW* rules, and even that won't save you if you miss bare-minimum metrics, like "firm contribution". Lastly, if you are at all 'different', that is creative, innovative, bold, interesting, tattooed, pierced, artsy, talented in a niche, or otherwise don't look like the shiny happy faces you can see in Deloitte-posted videos, don't bother. They (honestly) do accept LGBT and folks of all colors/ancestry with grace and blind eyes. HOWEVER: Deloitte hires, retains, and promotes people who 'look'/think' like Deloitte. They want to claim to be 'innovative' and 'bold', but their DNA is an AUDIT/RISK FIRM, a TAX firm, and a FINANCIAL ADVISORY firm, even if they also do some consulting. Do the math. BEANCOUTER MENTALITY prevades. If you question the system enough times, or think you know a better way to do something, just bring your badge and laptop to a meeting with HR. There is no Hawaiian-Print Shirt Day, however you WILL be required to work, errr... ummm, I mean "volunteer" on some of your holidays to either do commuity service, or come to the office for all-hands meetings. Other reviews eloquently cover most of the ugly under-belly of this rat in shiny green-dot clothing. I spent seven years with Deloitte, and can tell you, she is most beautiful when viewed in the rear-view mirror, receding like a roadside snake-oil saleman in the desert distance behind me. Be warned. Most of the best I knew there have left, and the few that remain are eyeing the door. And God-forbid Deloitte is eyeing your firm for a Merger/Acquisition. Ugh.
