Glorified staffing/temp company with some great people - Consultant Slalom Employee Review

2.0
29 Sept 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

These reviews are based on Slalom Boston only and I believe each office operates little bit differently. Majority of the people are hired from Big4 consulting firms - therefore there is a pretty good talent and pedigree of people. People are friendly, nice and good camaraderie among people. Pretty good work/life balance. Annual summer and winter events are pretty solid. With all the "Cons" you might see below, still lot of good talent. May not be a bad company if you are < 3 or 4 years of experience and/or you plan to stay only for 1 - 2 years.

Cons

These reviews are for Slalom Boston and I believe each office operates little bit differently. Pretty much 70% of the consulting engagements are staff augment / temp staffing type assignments. You are by yourself at the client with little to no support except when role is being extended or opportunity for potential up-sell. The client engagement staffing is poor and is based on available roles (demand) and available people (supply) rather than skills and experience match for the role. If you were an experienced PM before you may end up staffed as junior BA in a long term client project or if you are not an IT person and you might end up in an IT project. And you are stuck there for a long time doing things you do not like. Most of us end up as perpetual Consultant (job title) - no meaningful upward career trajectory. There are many many "consultants" who have been around for a 3+ years without any potential for upward movement and many people who joined 3 years ago or before have left the company. Internal leadership roles are filled by hiring from outside rather than grooming and promoting the experience staff. When you joining Slalom, they may match / even pay little bit more than your current salary, but once you are in your annual increase and bonus are are very very small (3 - 4% a year at the most). And you are expected to do lot more than your client work to crack the 5% mark (with at least 10+ hours a week). Not a great option for experienced consultants - for instance if you are a Sr. Consultant, Manager and above in any of the major consulting firm, then you will feel very much stuck in Slalom. The job titles are not very industry standard and comparable to others. The job titles in client services are: Consultant, Principal Consultant, Consulting Manager, Solution Architect, Solution Principal, Practice Area Lead and Client Services Lead. You are told that this is not linear and you can go from any title to any title. There are couple of people who used to be "Directors" in other firms joined Slalom as consultants and they have been "consultants" ever since. They are at the bottom of the pile with everyone else. If you were to compare to Accenture, Deloitte or PwC consulting titles: Principal Consultant and Consulting Manager is equivalent to "Manager" in Accenture; Solution Principal and Solution Architect is equivalent to "Senior Consultant" or Manager in Accenture and the only difference is you are specialized in certain area (example Project Management). Poor leadership - During the hiring process you are told Slalom is entrepreneurial and you can make your own career, flat organization, etc., but in reality there is a ceiling you'll be stuck under and if you stay here many years you career will stall and you will not be marketable. There is lot of dissatisfaction among staff and resulting in quite a bit of attrition. There is a general consensus that people have been treated poorly when they gave notice to leave the company. Most everyone I know are looking for opportunities to jump. Poor benefits.

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Slalom Response
8y
This is John Tobin. If you want to share more about your experience in Slalom Boston, please send me an email at johnt@slalom.com to discuss. I see there is an opportunity for us to shape our Career Framework and Paths more at Slalom and there is an initiative underway that is considering options around this. That said, I still believe in having more of a flat-like feel than a hierarchical organization. I know we are not perfect here, and we are taking action on this currently as part of our 2020 strategy. If you want to provide more feedback anonymously, please consider doing so via this survey: http://slalom.ws/anonsurvey

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CEO approval
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Pros

Work life balance is great

Cons

Pay for roles should be higher

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2.0
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CEO approval
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Pros

•There is an impressive budget, especially for high-level events, ancillary experiences, client giveaways, and premium swag. Management does not hesitate to fund top-notch brand experiences when needed. •The company offers a highly competitive benefits and perks package that remains a strong selling point.

Cons

•The "fiercely human" core value does not match daily operations. Collaboration is routinely replaced by a self-service model of training videos and help articles. •These recurring shifts are designed to manufacture the appearance of fiscal stability for the benefit of external stakeholders and clients, while leaving core operational deficits unaddressed. •Organizational maturity is low. Teams operate in deep silos, the internal tech stack is outdated, and there is a distinct lack of adequate project and event management software.

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