Pros
Great health insurance/benefits, good PTO, generous company holidays. There are some truly wonderful people in each office, and it is easy to form friendships with your colleagues. The WFH policy is flexible, as is movement between offices (to an extent).
Cons
It’s painfully clear that anyone who isn’t a fee earner is considered disposable. That may make sense from a business perspective, but if your employees feel they are viewed as disposable, your culture is toxic. There is no transparency, from executive leadership down to middle management. Everything is a secret, and there is no real explanation or justification for major business decisions — leadership isn’t held to any real accountability. I noticed another review mention the “boys club” culture, which is definitely a valid problem — while the corporate leadership team appears fairly diverse, the decisions are made by wealthy white men who are out of touch with their employee population, which is comprised heavily of millennials and Gen Z’ers. I was fortunate enough to work in a group with a healthy culture that respected its team members, but I know that was not the case on all teams. Nepotism is a terrible problem within the Life Sciences practice specifically — they have lost some very strong talent due to their toxic attitudes and shady behavior. There is no consistency in culture between offices, and each office operates as an island unto itself. The promotion process is, again, inconsistent — unless you have a manager or fee-earner backing you, it’s easy to fall through the cracks and watch your career stagnate. Additionally, movement within the firm is discouraged and nearly impossible. Unlike many companies that emphasize retention and internal mobility, KF hires you for a role or specific business segment and expects you to stay there, and lose a lot of their junior talent due to this mentality. The corporate teams within KF are skeletal — marketing, communications, and HR are so lean they can’t adequately support the size of the company.
