Cons now outweigh pros - Senior Consultant Alpha Financial Markets Consulting Employee Review

Having an active social life and inclusive, open culture is something that Alpha has always prioritised. Although we can't currently hold the in-person socials that have always brought Alpha together as a community, we are continuing to work on this remotely with, for example, a number of virtual events that were hosted in Summer 2020, and a programme of social touchpoints in the works for 2021. More detail on this can be found in our external and internal communications - and of course we continue to encourage all employees to come forward with any suggestions. Alpha prides itself on providing open forums for discussion / debate, and any suggestions from the team are reviewed with sincerity. We of course recognise that it has been an incredibly emotionally and mentally challenging year for all, given the global pandemic. It has brought a change of lifestyle, as well as increased wellbeing challenges for some - and we have implemented changes and frameworks to support our teams through this. In particular, shortly after our UK offices closed, we launched a remote working programme focussing on the pillars of wellbeing, productivity, technology and community. We also provided funding to enable our workforce to equip themselves to work in a comfortable and safe home environment. In recent months, we have supplemented earlier measures by publishing guidelines to enable employees to work flexibly and sustainably in their home environment. These apply to both client and internal roles and activities. I'm sorry to hear that you have not felt supported by our team and the range of mechanisms we have put in place. Alpha employees have a number of avenues open to them to raise any concerns or challenges related to mental or physical wellbeing. From your post I can see that you are a current employee - so it is worth highlighting that a full list of the support options available can be found in the 'Employee Feedback Framework' available on the HR portal. These include speaking to our internal 'Wellbeing Champions', engaging with HR, reaching out to your 'mentor' and/or raising concerns anonymously through our 'anonbot' on Slack. We also offer access to an external helpline, which anyone can call at any time for support. With respect to moving projects: as you will no doubt know, consulting by its nature is project-based; some projects are short term, whilst others run for longer - and we hear positive feedback from our team about the variety of project duration and focus available at Alpha. We have policies in place to ensure that employees on long term projects are supported and given opportunities to develop; there is also an opportunity to review project assignments (typically after 12 months, or sooner depending on the drivers for the request). If this has not been your experience I would like to encourage you to reach out to me or someone in the HR team directly, so we can understand where we could have addressed this better. Remuneration is determined by conducting an annual salary benchmarking exercise, and we remain confident that Alpha's package of base pay plus benefits remain competitive. Progression and development remains a priority for Alpha - we have adapted our internal training curriculum to a remote environment, to ensure that everyone in the team continues to have the opportunity to develop. The annual performance framework has also continued through this remote environment, to ensure everyone has the chance to get 1-1 support for career development throughout the year. I realise there is a lot of information in this reply, but I felt it was important to respond to each of your concerns in some detail. However, I would strongly encourage you to reach out to someone in the team (HR, leadership, mentor etc.) to discuss this further, and allow us the opportunity to better support you and learn from your experiences. Stuart McNulty, Global Chief Client Officer & Head of UK AWM