EY Jacksonville is a joke - Analyst EY Employee Review

1.0
22 May 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent sick/vacation time WFH sometimes Ability to get OT

Cons

Like many people you may find yourself ready to graduate, when out of nowhere you see an email from EY recruiting. Here you are sold the idea of working for a Big 4 professional services firm. You may think of typical consulting with all the perks and benefits, loads of travel, great career opportunities, and excellent leadership and development. The SDC in Jacksonville is none of that. The SDC was brought to life by EY in an effort to reduce costs and to have an onshore operations center, this, of course, happens at the expense of recent college grads hooked on the name brand that is EY. If the subpar starting salary wasn't enough to convince you, the nature of the work you will be performing should be your next concern. Basically all the work that cannot be conducted overseas in India will be passed along to you, of course the other analysts and senior analysts in actual consulting positions will throw work you way too if they deem it is too remedial or boring for them to complete. From updating margins on powerpoints, to servicing SharePoint access requests and copy and pasting for hours, surely won't ever get bored ! How can EY operate a "tax" department where many of their employees haven't seen a tax form or learned about tax laws? If you want your business degree to feel like a waste of time then, by all means, get a job here If you are hoping to find a career with lots of promise, career development, managers that actually are invested in you and work that will develop some actual transferable skills then DO NOT get a job here. Better yet, just send the email to the trash folder because that's where it belongs. If that wasn't enough, let me close with this. Some employees outside of the SDC in Jax didn't even know that employees there held college degrees. The way you are treated, spoken to, and the caliber of the work surely reflects that what I mentioned above is prevalent in most of the other groups and markets in EY. The management at the SDC itself does not know what they are doing, and most of all do not care about the careers of the people here. No wonder the turnover rate is so high, most people don't last over 1 year. The things I wrote above only scratch the surface of the problems that are existent in this office, but hey at the end of the day you'll get to put Ersnt & Young on your resume.

Explore other reviews about EY

5.0
28 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Vacation, personal time off, flexible work arrangements

Cons

Utilization unpredictably, long working hours, working outside of normal hours wtc

5.0
21 Feb 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. You will have a very hard time not falling in love with every single person you meet there. 2. Seriously, you will meet your soul mate(s) there. 3. Prestigious and looks great on the resume. 4. Your brain will grow a thousand times more powerful. 5. Forces you to conquer your fear of public speaking. 6. Fun team bonding and lifelong friends. 7. Stepping stone to high paying jobs. 8. Helps you work on perfecting your charm. You will learn from the most charming people how to really get people to like you. 9. HR really cares. 10. Big support network (IT, creative services, etc.). 11. Teaches you to be calm and in control.

Cons

OK, I'm going to be discussing all the taboo things, and there are a lot of them. In spite of these cons, I still admit it's worth a five star rating. 1. High performers are "designated" (you have very little control over your rating) by the partner group (can be a pro if you get selected. Seriously, I have worked with some of the supposed "fives" and they are not any different than my threes and fours. 2. Quality is extremely low. Sometimes I felt like I was working at McDonalds and not a professional services firm. The emphasis is on getting through work as fast as possible and expectations for quality are not realistic. 3. EY has a very hard time firing bad employees. If you get stuck with one it can be a nightmare. 4. EY has a heavy emphasis on wasting time. For example, there are lots and lots of checklists which have no value that you have to fill out. Also, they wasted money and time on creating "Canvas" which is literally slower and more awkward than the previous workspace tool, GAMX. There is a heavy emphasis on "reinventing the wheel" and fixing problems that aren't broken with even worse solutions. Instead of wasting money on useless tools, that money could have been spent on your employees in the form of compensation. Like I said, EY is really focused on attempting to look as though value is being created when in fact it is not. 5. Lots of meetings. Appearances are very important. 6. Employees on global 360 accounts get better treatment. 7. Some employees (executives mostly) tend to overemphasize how important this work is. Let's face it, if it was really glorious work then we would have action figures. 8. Looks are very important. Seriously, if you are a girl, you will get promoted based on how hot you are (the quality of your work is largely unimportant). If you are a guy, you are treated a little better but there is still a sexist undercurrent in the environment. This is advice you won't get from HR obviously, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. 8. You will be forced to eat hours. 9. Your ethical compass will start to get weaker. 10. You will get a little cynical. 11. Lots of driving and travel. 12. "Family men" and married couples with children are more likely to be promoted. If you want to be a partner, you have to be married (few exceptions). 13. You will work on vacations. 14. Loss of relationships with family and friends. 15. Some backstabbing and credit-stealing (but not very common). 16. Comp is below market but that's to be expected. 17. Employee retention is not something management is interested in. This makes you replaceable and expendable (yes even as a manager, unless you have been "designated" as a high performer by the partner group).

1015
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All