Monitor Group Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Current Employee – been working at Monitor Group

Pros – The people. The clients. The nature of the challenges.

Most of all though, it's the people. Most people go into management consulting with the intention of moving onto different industries / sectors, and the network of exceptional people you build is the most valuable part of the job.

Cons – Lower compensation relative to peer companies, and a lack of focus on this as the most critical issue facing the firm. If top consulting compensation is your goal, Monitor is probably not the right fit, given its hiring competitiveness relative to firms that pay better.

There is a bit of a "star" mentality for HR at Monitor. While it's good to reward your "stars" more, its the middle and middle-top that does the bulk of the good work Monitor is known for.

Advice to Senior Management – Monitor Group needs to focus on profitability, and distributing those profits as compensation to retain and recruit top people. The firm sometimes has trouble focusing on economic/commercial success vs. other goals (e.g., breadth of clients, new client acquisition, "sexy" new ideas, etc.).

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Monitor Group full-time for more than a year

Pros – Exposure to challenging, intellectually stimulating work
While the firm is not diverse in absolute numerical terms, it's extremely accommodating of diversity (e.g., LGBT, ethnicity)
Quirkier and more cerebral than most

Cons – Poor work/life balance
Unstable portfolio of clients

Advice to Senior Management – Hopefully, the transition to Deloitte will strengthen Deloitte's brand and keep some of Monitor's great IP and culture

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Monitor Group

Pros – - People are incredibly smart, supportive, and down to earth
- Flexible career paths allow you to take on new responsibilities/roles when you are ready for them and offer good opportunities for career advancement
- Effective performance evaluation system helped you understand your progress and identify opportunities for further growth & development
- Strong emphasis on upward and downward feedback throughout the firm
- Interesting variety of cases and clients

Cons – - Communications from management not always clear
- Lack of transparency about the overall business
- Flexible career paths sometimes made it difficult to understand/navigate the system

Advice to Senior Management – Management should increase transparency about the business and communicate more consistently and clearly with employees re: business health, key processes etc.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Monitor Group

Pros – Wonderful, quirky, brilliant and passionate people who care deeply about each other and their work.
Most cases require limited time at the client.

Cons – Poor work/life balance; high variability in management competencies across regions.

Advice to Senior Management – The incentive system needs to be restructured at the sales level to ensure that cases are scoped properly (e.g, that CTLs have the support they need, that junior consultants aren't overburdened and burnt out). Allocations needs to be incentivized to take the initiative in ensuring good, well-rounded experiences for consultants, as otherwise the tendency is for the more amicable / less assertive consultants (often the better workers) to consistently receive worse allocations, eventually burning them out faster.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Monitor Group

Pros – *Extremely detailed feedback process keeps you aware of how to improve, and what you're doing well
*Great opportunity to see many elements of business, if you're doing well and working hard you can attempt most anything you inquire about
*Highly interesting and engaging work, lots of opportunities for high level interaction with clients and partners once you've established yourself on a couple cases
*The informal networks are very strong, and very powerful if you're willing to establish them
*The company has a very unpolitical and merit based feel at the lower ranks
*The PD adviser system in place is usually very helpful in dealing with questions and comments
*Most of the people are very hard working, empathetic, self effacing, and love to have fun. This leads to a great culture at the lower levels and a lot of fun can be had at company outings
*Interviewing process is amazing, and very different. It puts candidates in very realistic situations and is a good indication of what work is like as a consultant
*Company is very supportive of taking PTO, so long as you set it up ahead of time, and you're not too senior (e.g. not a senior Project Manager or Partner)

Cons – *The great diplomacy skills preached and practiced within the company sometimes go too far. The intent behind nearly all messages is obscured, and only the bare minimum of information is passed down from above concerning the firm
*Human asset decisions can feel very random because of the lack of communication from above
*Confidentiality policies have run amok. They have gone beyond protecting clients and have started to cut into productivity within the company
*Benefits staff (one person for the whole company) is heavily strained, forcing people to deal with an ineffective third party benefits group
*Senior ranks begin to appear political, and there are several partners who don't seem to do much other than collect big checks
*Because there are no formal paths within the company, it can be hard to know what is really necessary to advance, especially at higher levels

Advice to Senior Management – Consider being more open and forthcoming about the intentions, timing and rationale behind internal decisions. Keep up the good work in picking the kind of people everyone can work well with, and clients like to interact with. Consider trying to do what's necessary to keep project managers around long enough to develop the skills they need to effectively manage cases. We at the lower levels would appreciate that.

Current Employee – been working at Monitor Group

Pros – The exposure to client C-level problems, and the opportunities for personal growth

Cons – The lack of name recognition, (telling someone you work for Monitor doesn't prompt the "wow" that McKinsey does) and the lack of formal training. Monitor has a strong mentorship culture, but it doesn't suffice to make up for a well structured, ongoing, formal training program. Also, total compensation is highly impacted by annual bonuses that are quite substantial, but the process by which the bonuses are allotted is mysterious

Advice to Senior Management – Don't overdo the commercialization push --- Monitor is a perfect place for intellectually curious people who have broad interests, who want to make a positive impact... I'm worried that we're losing what has made us a special place, by pushing the commercialization of IP so hard.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend