Hewitt Associates Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

Great benefits, easy work, most of the team members were good contributors.

Cons

Did not feel that I was given a good overview of the position before being hired--more like a cattle call to meet client obligations.

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure the recruiters are hiring the right people into the right jos.

Pros

Good place to work. Smart people, reasonable managers, common goals. Good opportunity for advancement and critcal thinking is appreciated here.

Cons

Poor communication by management at times. Large, slow to adapt organization. Focus of business is sometimes no clear. Pay is average.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate better. Align pay with performance. Listen to your employees as well as your clients. Don't let the company benifits deteriorate any further.

Pros

Very Flexible with working mothers.

Cons

No solid career path, very little room for advancement.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire people from outside. When I worked there, prior to all of the layoffs, all of management had only worked at Hewitt. I was NOT impressed with them at all. I have worked for other companies (J&J, Abbott) where management were people you looked up to, I was very impressed with them, I didn'[t get that feeling at Hewitt from management.

Pros

Relaxed work environment
Challenging work load and projects
Opportunities for advancement

Cons

incompetent management
unorganized team structures
Unclear communication
Not a lot of work feedback

Advice to Senior Management

Provide more training to new employees
Provide more feedback

Pros

Extreme work/life balance (for some), flexibility, alternate work programs, pay and benefits more than competitive when compared with other employers.

Cons

Lackluster middle-management, continuous layoffs and offshorings to such exotic locations as India and Poland. Upper management doesn't really know what's going on and doesn't care to.

Advice to Senior Management

Spin HRO and Consulting away from each other; it's really two different companies! Recruit exernally for management; there's too much cult-like thinking and stagnation amongst the long term associates.

Pros

Management tries to do the right thing.
Relatively stable business model.
Financially stable company.

Cons

Dysfunctional
Huge disparity between the HR and IT organization.
Incompetent IT leaders who appear to rule from text books.
No sense of own culture, more of "what are others doing ?" type of company.

Advice to Senior Management

Think through your own strategy as a company.
Make decisions based on quantifiable data and not assumptions or perceptions.
Think through offshore strategy. You do not have to follow the crowd.
Hire competent senior leadership who have a "true" proven record of success in process improvement, lean initiatives e.t.c - everybody knows how to cut back on head count.

Pros

Sounds impressive to outsiders but workers and former workers know the place is a sweat shop

Cons

Terribly long hours. 60 hours a week was the norm, not the exception. If you don't work those hours, it is reflected on your performance review.

I talked to my last manager twice in the year she was my manager (she worked in a different state). In the three years I was there, I had four managers.

Some employees were clearly favored based on being "chums" with upper management

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to employee work/life balance. You are burning out your best people.

Pros

In the late 90's / early 00's, Hewitt had a culture with a "can do" attitude. Parts of that culture still remain. The company is also fairly smart and efficient in their use of technology. Finally, the connections associates can make with the various customers can help their careers.

Cons

Once the company went public, however, that culture disappeared. In addition, missteps in acquired clients and new contracts signed in 2005 caused the company to lose money and start existing the HR outsourcing business. As a result, the company was unprofitable for a period of time.

Advice to Senior Management

1) Focus on maintaining and resurecting the positive elements of the past culture.
2) Focus on being a Truly Global Company
3) Take the company private, so the company can make the investments it needs.

Pros

Great Leadership
Flexible Hours - Ability to work from home when necessary
People I work with are smart team players
On-site Pharmacy and Physician

Cons

Recent layoffs make it a little uneasy to move up in the organization - more vulnerable
During busy seasons, they work you hard.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep on being open and honest to employees (the CEO blog is fantastic)
Continue the town hall meetings with senior leadership

Pros

If you are friends with management, you will go places. You always need to support leaderships goals and be pro-India in all respect

Cons

Management is completely incompetent. They ignore the quality issues and continue to praise India's work when it's clearly not meeting the expectations of our clients.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your clients. Listen to your employees.