The company name alone conjures up words like savvy, tradition, and influence. Not surprisingly, McKinsey topped all comers in prestige with an 8.954 score.

Overall, Prestige receives the highest weight at 30%, which is followed by Employee Satisfaction (15%), Compensation (15%), Firm Culture (10%), Work-Life Balance (10%), Business Outlook (10%), Promotion Policies (5%), and the Ability to Challenge (5%). After that, they assess their own employers in areas like diversity, innovation, and supervisor relationships. In the first section, consultants score the prestige of competing firms. The two section survey evaluates performance using a 1-10 scale (with 10 being the highest score). In 2017, this survey netted nearly 9,000 verified, confidential responses from active consultants who work at more than 60 North American firms. Each year, Vault conducts a management and strategy consulting survey. McKinsey’s ascension can be traced to the ranking criteria used by Vault, a leading collector of market intelligence for employer ratings and reviews. “But they’ve been focusing on quality of life in a big way in recent years, and it really came through in this year’s ratings from employees.” “They’ve always been the most prestigious firm,” explains Phil Stott, consulting editor at Vault in a written interview with Poets&Quants. The result was the payoff of a long-standing effort at McKinsey to enhance employee health and happiness. It was a victory to savor for McKinsey, which had slipped to third overall in 2017 after playing hot potato with Bain for the top spot in recent years. McKINSEY WINS OUT THE OLD FASHIONED WAY: HAPPIER EMPLOYEES Thanks to raising employee satisfaction while maintaining prestige, McKinsey roared back to claim 1st in Vault’s overall ranking this year, edging out the Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company for top honors. A year ago, McKinsey had seemingly lost its mojo, hobbled by low survey marks in such areas as work hours and culture. The 2018 ranking heralds a new #1 - and a comeback story for the ages. That trend defined Vault's Consulting 50 ranking, the gold standard for evaluating consulting firms on prestige and performance. Culture and satisfaction are the true differentiators in drawing the best talent. Increasingly, prestige firms are intensifying ways to boost mobility, flexibility, and balance. In consulting, such myths have gone the way of Mad Men’s morning martinis and teatime trysts. The downsides, of course, are 75-hour weeks capped by nonstop demands and travel. In theory, prestige translates to big name clients, boundless resources, and lush paychecks.

Do you want to join a prestigious firm…or would you rather have a life?Įvery candidate thinks they know the tradeoff.

Mckinsey work life balance