I still find my work experience in this firm "bizarre" in a bad way because of the kind of people I met during my tenure, starting to my recruiter, colleagues/peers, seniors, my supposed "counselor" up to my Offerings Partner (Leader). This made me conclude that this is the worst among the so-called "Big 4" in terms of culture, talent, global mobility (this is ironic given that they have a Global Mobility Team), and work-life balance (or the lack of it).
The talent team is only nice to you during the recruitment process but as soon as you get onboarded, you will never hear them again. The onboarding process is so transactional it feels like an admin activity that need to be ticked on a checklist. As an expat, the Talent Team and the Talent Partner don't seem to know immigration process of countries where they recruit. That put me under considerable risk.
As an experienced consultant, I know the “plug and play” culture of consulting but this only works if there is effective onboarding process in place and sufficient integration period especially for non-locals. This is not the case as their only concern is to put people to projects because they’re scrambling for lack of resources. I had no meaningful interaction with my peers. It took my counselor and supposed "buddy" one (1) week before they reach out and check in on me. Under pressure, there are even instances where my ”counselor" would resort to micromanaging and corporate bullying.
Being staff in a project, you can truly feel that you are only a breathing resource with your seniors having no concern whatsoever to your wellbeing or development. Worse, they will put the blame to you if anything mess up in the engagement THEY sold to the client. They are willing to throw you under the bus so they will look good.
In wellbeing, the leaders in my Service Line are too focused in business development that all the talks about work-life balance are really just lip service not manifested by tangible activities that address toxic work habits or promote healthy “working lives”. Working on weekends, holidays, and late night meetings are the norms. Sadly, a lot of freshers are the most affected because they would sacrifice their energies and wellbeing just to deliver.
Whilst more and more companies now invest in conducive workplace management with proper social distancing in light of COVID, this firm would not invest in such resource. The office environment resembles that of HASIL offices I've been to.
