L.E.K. Consulting Reviews

Cons

Long hours
Associates are giving some mundane tasks

Cons

-Terrible, terrible hours with no sympathy for life. It's part of the culture.
-Long times between promotions and 'next step up' often doesn't change job
-Below market compensation
-Limited exit options
-U.S. HR is abysmal but seems to run the company

Cons

Will be working really late to catch up with the schedule.

Cons

- The company culture is toxic. There is no "care" from the top. Most Partners genuinely don't know or care about how their teams are doing or how to make your life better at the firm. If they can understaff and shorten the timeline, they will always do that - at your expense
- Consistently long hours - for Consultants, 65-70h / week is the norm
- No training / mentoring / helping you get better at work. You are there on your own, left to dry, and figuring things out by your sheer willpower. If you do, great - be better and faster; if you don't, sorry, your bad
- There is a culture of "work hard" but not "work smart". No push back on project scope or cut down unnecessary work. Most of the time is spent trying to please Partners (because of the unhealthy culture of fear)
- Support functions (HR / security / market research) are NOT helpful. In many cases you would wonder if their existence was just to simply make your life more miserable
- No leadership. The quality of managers varies greatly and that dictates your hours, quality of life, and pretty much your reviews. Most Partners (with a few exceptions) are not inspiring leaders with no leadership skills. Role models? Look somewhere else
- Diversity is also alarmingly bad. No women in the leadership team. Poor POC representation. Poor LGBT representation. No actions have been taken to change anything

Cons

-Leadership is terrible - Due to the terrible culture, high performers leave as soon as they can. There are very few managers or partners that are inspiring (or even good) to work with

-High levels of due diligence work - don't join expecting to do strategy work or to get any client exposure. 90%+ of the work is DDs. You will be doing market research as opposed to strategy work

-Minimal post MBA exit opportunities - All you do is market research, there may be opportunities to jump to another second tier firm, but high profile recruiters do not come to LEK with great opportunities (Pre-MBA opportunities appeared to be decent)

-Limited interest in developing people - the training is terrible and consultants are viewed as widgets to burn out, not a resource to develop

Cons

Burnout due to zero personal life (e.g., 1-2 months straight of consistent 2 am + nights on bad cases), and unpredictability (e.g., find out Monday morning when you are on said bad case, with not even weekend to mentally prepare). Inadequate back-office support staff makes the job more difficult (e.g., IT, poor I.P. retention systems). Generally, L.E.K. pinches pennies in the wrong places, leading to sense that you are number in their sweatshop. Mentors are hard to find. Limited client exposure - do not come to L.E.K if client interaction is what you are working for, and be aware your first 1-2 years will be spent in a phone booth

Cons

The hours can get long

Cons

Most weeks are ~60 hours. Gradually wears down your health, relationships, and happiness

Cons

Hours are rough. Obviously, it's consulting, but there is not much of an ebb or flow, just constant heavy workweeks and the long hours don't seem to contribute to a better deliverable or answer.
Little to no coaching. Lots of what "you're not doing," but no real collaboration on how to improve in those areas. It doesn't seem that greater effort contributes to better results. Few partners that a career-switching MBA can relate to.

Cons

Partners-Won't know who you are (even if you're a top performer)
No work-life balance (70-80 hour weeks, much higher than MBB)
Not a lot of investment-training is on an as-needed basis given the time constraint of working so many hours
No client visibility
90% private equity projects (Longer hours, less interesting)
Understaffed projects-Partners prefer burning employees for higher margins
High turnover