- Salaries are low with no paid overtime, time in lieu, or meaningful soft perks. Low salary is a priority during the recruitment process which has results in a shift towards all junior hires. Senior staff aren't replaced so there is a lack of senior mentorship. Project managers are stressed knowing work will take longer and/or have more issues. Junior staff feel they aren't getting the experience they signed on for.
- Attitudes and titles are inflated, with half the young staff having director or lead titles.
- Partners claim to value autonomy and flexibility, but your whereabouts will need to be accounted for practically every minute of the day with no trust or empowerment to work remotely or manage your own work / schedule during ebbs and flows (but you'll be expected to put in extra hours during the busy times).
- They will tell you to "just let your supervisor know" if your workload is too much, but then respond by saying there is no other way to redistribute the work. e.g. "I was hoping you could take of ___. Thanks." (period, end of conversation)
- Partners claim it is important to delegate but middle managers are micro-managed. Partners aren't always aligned with each other, e.g. one will approve something and the other will say you shouldn't have done it.
- Every sale / contract is underscoped / oversold putting pressure on project teams to achieve unrealistic deadlines and deliverables with the aforementioned junior or under-resourced teams.
- They promote a lot of hype about how great the culture is but don't live up to their values when it really comes down to it. They will do something like interview each staff member about their personal 5 year goals making a show of how progressive they are and the "work family" mantra, but when you need it their support will be very limited and policies aren't that progressive.
