Booz Allen Hamilton Reviews in Washington, DC Area

Pros

- Benefits (401k is top notch, health insurance is great, etc.)
- Work/Life Balance. I can pretty much work at home whenever I please. Come at 10 am or leave early as long as I get my work done and do at least 40+ hours
-My admin team and career manager really care for me personally but this is not always the case. Get a good career manager who actually cares about you!
-Good pay and raises are nice if you work hard, earn it, and ask for it.

Cons

- Since going public, we've been really losing the culture and community of BAH. It is slowly turning into a cold-hearted corporation where people can get laid-off at a moment's notice.
- The infamous lunches & happy hours are now long gone due to going public and the stakeholders are hitting hard on expenses and where the partners & senior mgmt spend their money
-On the bench for 30 days? GONE. Before, it used to be at the discretion of your team but now be billable or be out
- Utilization rate is complicated and needs to be reworked

Advice to Senior Management

Take care of the employees and keep their loyalty. Some are jumping ship just because the culture is changing and people are little worried. Not much senior mgmt can do now that we are public and have to answer to stakeholders though.

Pros

Interesting work assignments

High-quality co-workers

Excellent reputation as top employer in DC area

Decent private sector benefits package

Supportive management

Fair assessment methodologies

Core Values

Ample opportunities for training and professional growth

Flexible work schedules are available (i.e., telework, remote client support) depending on project

Greater emphasis on innovation and outside-the-box thinking than other employers

Good food in the Greensboro Cafe in McLean

Cons

We're becoming the new SAIC - growing pains due to going public

Lots of room for improvement for security clearance/visit request processing

We have to change our email password every month now, and it's annoying

Internal social networks (Hello, Yammer) are not fully utilized and often impossible to use on client site

You could get stuck on a project with bad clients for years; lateral movement within the firm, particularly different markets, has become more challenging over the years

Dispersed work environments can be detrimental to collaboration, morale

"Hoteling" has eliminated the office cultures that once existed at Booz Allen - good luck if you come in as a Consultant and you don't see/talk to your Career Manager more than once every quarter

Disconnects often occur between client-site staff and non-client-site staff

Oftentimes, rigid management bureaucracy exists when they tout a "matrixed" environment

Entry-level staff perceived more and more as a "butt in seat" or "cheap labor" to help the contract profitability, rather than a valuable asset to Booz Allen's future

Need for "owning a market" to get promoted past Associate - becoming much harder to do in an era of government belt-tightening. Booz Allen has developed a "belt" system to recognize technical abilities, and even it focuses too much on business development, marketing, and recruiting

Pay is generally good, but I've met many folks hustling constantly to support clients when they get paid 10K less than a GS-13 who surfs the web all day, and the requirements/skills needed to support their missions increases each year

Pros

Good pay
Good work
Good people
Good benefits

Cons

Not really a con but Booz Allen is not exempt from what is happening in the Defense Industry. Too many "Gen Y's" are getting a wake up call to reality. They want job security, excellent benefits, and plenty of time off with a 7 hour work day. Fact of the matter is that Booz Allen has gone from growing 18% a year to 3% (most of our competitors have negative growth). Lack of work letters are more common place because of a lack of overhead funds due to lack of growth. The firm as a whole is just now starting to come to grips with this sad reality and bottom line is that unlike our clients (the government) Booz Allen needs to remain profitable to stay in business.

Advice to Senior Management

COMMUNICATE!

Pros

It's been a rewarding experience and I have been adequately compensated. Flexibility with work location allows staff to work from home or "hotel" from offices around the area.

Cons

Corporate culture can be draining at times. Dress code is uptight, but bearable. Working in the Defense sector is usually a "pro" but is now a "con" as government begins to trim the budget.

Pros

flexible (depending on client), learning opportunities, education reimbursement, interesting work, remote work is very convenient

Cons

a lot of work for not great pay, managers need to learn how to manage, expected extracurriculars

Advice to Senior Management

compensate staff for their extracurricular work

Pros

+ Good salary and benefits
+ Good firm for transitioning military members
+ Ample training opportunities

Cons

+ 360 review structure is very time consuming
+ Little flexibility on which clients and projects you want to work with -- very siloed organization
+ No bonus structure for most -- creates complacent work atmosphere
+ Lack of innovation and motivation among employees -- partly to blame on resistant government clients
+ Difficult for employees on client site to connect with the rest of the firm
+ Hired too many people and no surprise they had to trim the fat -- unfortunate for those who were let go

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate to employees and create better incentives to increase performance.

Pros

-Pay (sort of)
-You get to work with a lot of experts in their respective fields
-Hoteling often lets you work from many different offices
-Really understanding about flexible working situations
-The company is dedicated to providing training and development to all employees

Cons

-Layoffs are big now. 130+ senior staff were let go last week and today (1/27/2012) over 300 people were let go in just this area. Types of people let go today: Mailroom staff (most of them), printshop staff, Human Capital staff, EA's and others. This is just the start.

-Management is terrible at communication. You never know what is going on and when you ask about anything you are looked at as "creating waves" and that is not a good thing right now (considering the layoffs).

-The pay isn't great -- especially for what they charge gov't clients.

-Benefits are about to get a big overall for a lot of people. In the coming weeks, Booz Allen senior staff will be rolling out a plan that will put a great number of staff in what they call "Cost Band 8." Those put into this category will have greatly reduced benefits, reduction in pay/level in the firm, reduced tuition reimbursement, and many other benefits stripped from them. If you are on the client side and are not cleared, are at a low level (Sr. Consultant or below), or don't have high value to the firm -- expect to be on the list. GO Team people can expect it to shortly after.

Pros

Booz Allen offers some of the best people with the best work I've had the privilege of being involved with. It's reputation has been historically rock solid in the government sector and the benefits are very competitive. The projects/programs that are typically taken on are more selective than other consulting firms, which means that staff are generally offered challenging and interesting work, not "hired butts in seats" (or "TS cleared butts in seats"). The firm is very forward-leaning regarding internal collaboration platforms (hello.bah.com and Yammer), which helps tie far-flung areas of the company together.

Cons

The cons have specifically come about in the past couple years. Specifically, since the move to take the company public and the subsequent fallout. Budgets are noticeable tighter for "niceties" like team socials, training, and other former perqs. "Lack of work" also seem to be more prevalent, meaning more folks are given the axe more quickly than ever. Quality staff without a project used to be given a lot more leeway, but now they're given two weeks to find something or else they're given the boot (like many other consulting firms in the area). On the other hand, perhaps it's just that I'm more cognizant of these individuals since the popularity of our internal social networking has grown. The ladder-climbing is much less of an issue to me. In fact, it's really no different than any other traditional company: sell your soul, move up the rungs of corporate success. If you're looking for "work-life balance," then you just need to find that balance and live with the consequences. If that means sacrificing a high-level and high-paying management position to build a quality marriage and raise healthy kids, then DO SO!

Advice to Senior Management

Be honest...about everything. If your team is struggling or a project/contract is in jeopardy, don't hold back that information in fear of good folks leaving. If the firm is tightening the purse strings and perqs like social outings and training is no longer an option, be up front about that. If a raise isn't in the cards because it would mean pulling someone off a contract, make that clear looong before assessment time. Staff are tired of hearing things third-hand or speculating on rumors for months without any confirmation/denial from management. You know, so let the rest of your staff know so we can all be on the same page.

Pros

Currently, the company is very big and has a good reputation which is great for your resume. You meet a lot of different peope so that helps out your network.

Cons

The company hires too many people with not enough projects leading to layoffs. You usually end up on a project you not aligned with your experience. You also have to interview for new projects as of you're applying to a new job which makes it very exhausting.

Advice to Senior Management

The hiring spree was not very advantageous and a lot of people who got hired hoping they could make a career out of this job ended up losing their jobs.

Pros

- People at Booz Allen are decent
- Used to be a great place to work from what I hear
- No travel

Cons

- Nothing exciting about the work unless you get lucky
- No growth opportunities
- Might as well work for the government

Advice to Senior Management

- Perhaps start paying attention to employee morale
- Getting into the commercial sector will prove to be a disaster