The Hackett Group Reviews

Pros

Best practices methodology, Fortune 100 clientele, global presence, experienced leadership who focuses on only bottom-line results (at the expense of field staff)

Cons

Leadership blinded toward activities in the field that affect employee morale and turnover. Giving "credit where credit is due" is not a prevailing philosophy among Senior Directors and Vice Presidents - - consulting managers and directors continually thrown under a moving bus. Feedback for improvement is not appreciated by leadership. Intimidation is common and professional behavior absent. The PMP program is ineffective and is not taken seriously by those who are responsible.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a hard look at the Senior Director and Vice Presidents - - most do not practice the Company philosophy and are only interested in billing the client for as much as they can get away with.

Pros

Be I all can be

Cons

The downside being a small player in the crowded consulting field.

Advice to Senior Management

More strategic planning and execution. Be less tactic and reactive.

Pros

- Renowned IP (Thanks to Benchmark)
- Some great people

Cons

- US centric company management
- Little communication and lack of transparency from senior management although pretend to be "family" spirited
- Sales Bonus is a joke: be very careful with your job contract in term of sales objectives and conditions to get them
- No methodology, Knowledge repositary is a real mess
- Image crisis: pretend to do strategic consulting work piece, actually renowned for their Benchmark service offering mainly
- Too much politics for the size of the company
- Decrease in quality of recruiting

Advice to Senior Management

Increase quality of recruiting and reward propoerly (i.e. establish transparent sales and other bonus scheme). More quality communication. Stop applying US views to manage the European practices, take in account cultural factors, maybe by promoting more locals to key positions in the European practices!

Pros

small company with strong brand

Cons

short-term thinking and weak training opportunities

Advice to Senior Management

have a long term vision and strategy

Pros

Hackett is a bit unique in the overall EPM space due to the fact that it has (and originated with) a well-known best practices division.

Cons

The management and overall organizational structure is weak at best. There was a lack of proper competency and attention in the corporate leadership.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to your competition, pay attention to your employees and avoid becoming complacent. There is plenty of opportunity for the company to strengthen itself.

Pros

industry leader in benchmarking - tons of data

Cons

low salaries, management doesn't communicate, benchmarking, transformation and REL and Advisory..don't connect well
public company whereas competitors are private, competition in benchmarking increasing

Advice to Senior Management

go private, communicate better with employees, cost cutting should not always mean laying off ppl

Pros

1. Flexibility (working from home)
2. Opportunity to take on more roles because of the size of the team

Cons

1. Performance Reviews not tied to promotions
2. Lack of promotions/raises/employee recognition
3. Lack of focus on retaining employees
4. Lack of structured training
5. No support from leadership

Advice to Senior Management

Pay more attention to retaining your employees and your employees being the asset of your company, especially since you pride yourself on IP.

Pros

* Easier ability to assume leadership of projects based on capability not tenure
* Wide variance of solution approaches allowed and room for individual solutions
* Generally do not have people looking over your shoulder in terms of project execution/deliverables - more expected to be competent until proven to be incompetent

Cons

* Limited information sharing - more ad hoc, informal networks leveraging prior content and knowledge
* In terms of their Transformation (Mgmt consulting) group: Inability to define a strategy and build content and reputation in the area - all things to all people
* Limited individual growth opportunities - expect to bring in much more knowledge than take away
* Large amount of project admin overhead with little visible benefit - shear momentum with reason
* Project bonus distribution well below expectations and tied to a process that seems designed to be difficult to complete (heavy reliance of completion of items by senior client executives)

Advice to Senior Management

* Simplify the administrative overhead - from travel admin, project admin, expenses submission, etc
* Identify a strategy and build strength in identified areas of emphasis instead of pretending to have a huge experience bench spanning all areas

Pros

The company hires extremely bright people. The company has a great amount of unique intellectual property so its a great learning environment.

Cons

Long term strategy seems to change on a regular basis. The company is always trying to catch the next trend, unfortunately its often a day late and a dollar short.

Advice to Senior Management

Determine what your competitive advantages and disadvantages are in the market place, come up with a strategy that fits and then stick to it.

Pros

Highly skilled co-workers, Strong Data/IP repository, work with leading companies around the world

Cons

Only real recognition seems to go to people that are involved in a sale. Large amount of turnover, both employees leaving on their own and through layoffs.

Advice to Senior Management

Not everyone can be a superstar. Your least experienced employees can have a huge impact on your clients. Make sure that you are treating them well. Recognize the talent that you have within the organization and find ways to promote them into increasing levels of responsibility.