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I have close friends & family that work for big 3 consulting (BCG, Bain, McKinsey). These 3 companies are constantly on multiple independent sites as top places to work. Key emphasis on multiple independent.
However, my close family & friends seems to hate it there. Yes benefits, on paper, are amazing. However, the work/life balance is non-existent. Constantly working, 80 hour weeks, no such thing as real PTO, etc etc. The kicker is they all say this is consistent and all their coworkers feel the same. Tenure is never more than a couple years.
I guess I'm concerned with the discrepancy between top places to work and real life. If only 1 site said this is a great place to work, yea sure ignore. But multiple independent sites rate these companies in top 5 year after year after year. If it's that great, why do pple hate it there and always want to leave? Is my sample size just too small?
Those “surveys” are not even close to impartial. companies have to decide to participate, then they have to push the polls out to their employees. Twist a few arms, promise cookies if the company gets good ratings, boom, you are a top company.
A few years ago my organization had a VP who was into these things. I had never had a survey sent my way prior to this in my career, but that year we all got them, with a lot of encouragement to talk up the company. We got a great rating, that VP left, we dropped off the list the next year and I haven’t seen a survey since.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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I did. I actually campaigned for a position at fortune 500 company that has been written up everywhere as a great place to work.
I only lasted a few years. It was disappointing. At first, I was extremely excited and proud. Then I realized it was like every other big corporation I'd worked. Outsourcing, re-organizing and layoffs, low pay. My life was ruled by surveys. My bonuses and salaries were based on them, not my on my own merit. I needed x amount of surveys completed by my clients. If I didn't have a certain number of completed surveys, I was "talked" to. But I also had to have a 9 or 10 out of 10 on my survey. No other number mattered. I could fix a client's problem in record time and save them a ton of money; but that client would often give me 8 because they had to call me to begin with. Ugghhh. So beyond frustrating.
At first, I was excited about flextime. But in reality, it meant I could be contacted at all hours and was expected to work until done, no matter how long it took. Working holidays was a given. Vacations were hard to schedule. My hours were insane.
My manages would ask me to do things that were coming really close to violating my professional ethics and that was hard, too. In their defense, they were not professionals. They were just managers, but I felt they should have respected my position on certain issues.
I detested the company ceo. He was beyond wealthy and completely out of touch with the actual company. It was such a drag reading about his latest mansion or how awesome his spoiled, entitled, wife and kids were while I was struggling to make rent. Being forced to read his 16 year old daughter's insights was ridiculous. Oh, and the CEO loved karaoke. That was fun. Not.
Meetings and team building were weird. I felt like I was in a cult. My coworkers would cheer for the CEO like he was a rockstar or something. I would sometimes think to myself, these people would actually kiss his a** if he dropped trou right now. It was so weird.
Finally, I had to complete a company survey. There was no option.
Anyway, I will never work for a "great place to work" company again.
Meetings and team building were weird. I felt like I was in a cult. My coworkers would cheer for the CEO like he was a rockstar or something. I would sometimes think to myself, these people would actually kiss his a** if he dropped trou right now. It was so weird.
Finally, I had to complete a company survey. There was no option.
Anyway, I will never work for a "great place to work" company again.
People like this, the brownnosers, disgust me. They are the weakest of the weak. Why? Because they don’t stand up for what’s right, good, or true. They just automatically default to kissing ass and siding with whoever happens to hold the power or be in favor at any given moment. That is a serious character deficit. I would rather stand up for the truth, hold my ground and be fired than kiss someone’s butt who I do not respect or trust. I’ll be polite to you, but I’ll be damned if I lower myself to being part of your fan club. Nope.
I think there are two things going on. First is survivorship bias, where the only people who survive long enough at such companies to answer the survey are the ones who buy into that lifestyle of nothing but work, hoping it will someday pay off in the end, while everybody else either avoids such companies or only lasts a few months and leaves before ever filling out a survey.
The second thing that I think is going on is that many people probably answer based on benefits that exist on paper, even if they don't exist in practice. What good is a "paid holiday" if you always have to work, or are shamed if you don't work on it? What good is vacation time that you can never take or are shamed if you take them? I know of some companies that have paid holidays in paper, but expect everybody to work on them, but supposedly pay them extra for them. Employees at such companies think that they are getting such a great deal. But, in reality, that pay is nothing more than just part of your salary, so I just see it as a scam. And then there are the companies that, on paper, offer 4 day workweeks, when, in reality, it means working 7 days a week, and getting paid for only 4. I have one coworker who mentioned that his former employer offered no paid holidays at all, and he was trying to explain (and making no sense) how that was a good thing.
I have close friends & family that work for big 3 consulting (BCG, Bain, McKinsey). These 3 companies are constantly on multiple independent sites as top places to work. Key emphasis on multiple independent.
However, my close family & friends seems to hate it there. Yes benefits, on paper, are amazing. However, the work/life balance is non-existent. Constantly working, 80 hour weeks, no such thing as real PTO, etc etc. The kicker is they all say this is consistent and all their coworkers feel the same. Tenure is never more than a couple years.
I guess I'm concerned with the discrepancy between top places to work and real life. If only 1 site said this is a great place to work, yea sure ignore. But multiple independent sites rate these companies in top 5 year after year after year. If it's that great, why do pple hate it there and always want to leave? Is my sample size just too small?
Sorry, but no one is working 80 hour weeks there if they are claiming that, that's just their ego talking.
If they hate working there, perhaps they just hate working in general. You need to talk to people who aren't friends who are actually doing the job you want there and get feedback from them.
For every person who claims they are working 80 hours a week I have known, they sure have a lot of time to post to social media including photos of them at locations not anywhere near the office.
People like this, the brownnosers, disgust me. They are the weakest of the weak. Why? Because they don’t stand up for what’s right, good, or true. They just automatically default to kissing ass and siding with whoever happens to hold the power or be in favor at any given moment. That is a serious character deficit. I would rather stand up for the truth, hold my ground and be fired than kiss someone’s butt who I do not respect or trust. I’ll be polite to you, but I’ll be damned if I lower myself to being part of your fan club. Nope.
Sorry but this is a fictionalization for what people think it's like to work somewhere they can't get hired into or get along with the people there. They use this as an excuse of why they aren't working for the big company making a bigger salary, so they make up these stories that in order to work there you have to ensure something very unpleasant. News flash, nobody needs you to kiss ass, and they don't need you to hold your ground for what you believe. Disagreeing with every new project and direction isn't holding your ground. It is a business, and they have work that needs to be done. You don't have to agree with everything being done, because they know something you don't and it isn't their job to convince you. If it doesn't work out, the business will fail and that will be the end of it, but meanwhile, they have access to information, talent and resources that you don't.
Sorry but this is a fictionalization for what people think it's like to work somewhere they can't get hired into or get along with the people there. They use this as an excuse of why they aren't working for the big company making a bigger salary, so they make up these stories that in order to work there you have to ensure something very unpleasant. News flash, nobody needs you to kiss ass, and they don't need you to hold your ground for what you believe. Disagreeing with every new project and direction isn't holding your ground. It is a business, and they have work that needs to be done. You don't have to agree with everything being done, because they know something you don't and it isn't their job to convince you. If it doesn't work out, the business will fail and that will be the end of it, but meanwhile, they have access to information, talent and resources that you don't.
Ever been ordered to falsify numbers? Ever been told to lie? Ever been put in the situation where it's your job or your integrity? It happens. I've stood in front of management and made career limiting decisions but I can sleep with myself at night.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
4,641 posts, read 11,950,599 times
Reputation: 9887
Quote:
Originally Posted by rummage
Forced? How were you forced?
Why would anyone consider NOT reading what the CEO of a company brings to your attention?
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