L.E.K. Consulting Reviews

Cons

- As with all consulting firms, hours can be difficult and challenging
- Compensation could be a bit more competitive

Cons

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

Cons

Worked too hard, often for the wrong reasons - median week is >60 hours, working past 11pm on at least 2 days. Worst week was ~75 hours, working past 3am on 3 days.

Most common reasons for working late: project understaffed / over scoped for the time frame; clients being unreasonable; data issues (difficult to control for this); culture (definitely some of management who have the mindset of "we should be working 65+ hours weeks to produce good work and impress clients")

Some changes being made in the right directions on these things, but some of the older cohort of management seem very stuck in their ways, and whilst the office is busy (has been for a while), cannot see this changing quickly

Training was poor: learn on the job great, personal development sessions too infrequent and often poor quality with out of date materials

Profit share is also stingy - when there is a big uplift in profits for the company, should be better shared throughout company

Cons

Hard work definitely required !

Cons

Limited flexibility in incentives system

Cons

Long hours. Expectation to stay in the office all the time to work - no flexibility to work from home. Not always given the chance to step up and do something more challenging beyond research.

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

Lack of variety of cases; poor HR & finance functions

Cons

More personalized professional development support would have been great. You're thrown in the deep end and can feel isolated and on your own for skills acquisition.
There was sometimes a lack of 'caring personally' from managers; although, peer support was amazing.

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