Culture crisis - Ecologist EMM Consulting Employee Review

- There are genuinely wonderful, capable, and supportive people across the business. - You can gain exposure to interesting projects and broad consulting experience.

- Technical capability is under strain. The business has lost a number of experienced specialists, and remaining staff are often stretched across roles or expected to deliver beyond their depth. In practice, this affects mentorship, delivery quality, and confidence in the work. - Leadership and workforce planning appear reactive rather than well sequenced. Periods of hiring ahead of sustainable pipeline, followed by redundancies or restructuring, create uncertainty and weaken trust in decision-making. It also places additional pressure on teams already carrying delivery risk. - The culture has shifted toward output and efficiency, but the underlying systems, planning, and leadership capability have not matured at the same pace to support that shift well. The stated values of integrity, humility, and respect are less visible in how decisions are made and how people experience the workplace. The result is a culture that can feel transactional, uneven across teams, and at times burnout-prone.

Good office locations, attractive workspaces, flexible arrangements, and some capable people.

The company has a clear strategy, but lacks the accountability, systems, and leadership discipline to deliver it. Executions relies too heavily on individuals absorbing pressure rather than on clear ownership, effective processes, or consistent management at a leadership level. This is felt across the business. Juniors lack support, middle management is left patching gaps, and senior staff operate without the structures and support needed to deliver sustainably. From the outside, the business presents well. Internally, the gap between ambition and execution is significant.