Job Title: Support Staff Supervisor
Location: USA
Submitted on: 04-Sep-03
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There is an overpowering feeling at McKinsey & Company that you are
among the chosen few, that you are the best and the brightest. Having
survived the grueling interview process, you do, indeed feel that you
have reached some sort of career pinnacle. I had spend 16 years at two
different consulting firms prior to McKinsey, so I did feel that I had
reach the highest echelon in the consulting world. McKinsey employees
are taught to refer to McKinsey as the ??Firm??, never as merely a
company. We were always guided by Firm policy and procedures. We were
expected to work hard and put in a lot of hours. Consultants put in
incredibly long hours (60-80 hours a week) and support staff did, too.
In fact, many of the people in my department made more money that I did
because of their overtime. Dress code at the time I was there was very
strict - men wore suits and ties and women wore dresses, skirts, or
nice pants. Open-toed shoes, for example, were forbidden as was wearing
a skirt without wearing nylons. Fridays were casual days, but that,
too, was fairly strict - no jeans (or denim whatsoever), no sneakers,
no t-shirts. I occasionally had to enforce the dress code within my
department. I understand that the dress code has become more relaxed,
business casual being the norm now. I was a support staff supervisor
and there was a real feeling of Us vs. Them (that is, support staff vs.
consulting staff). The consulting staff were worked hard (as we were),
but were also treated like royalty, in many ways, with lots of
opportunities for training. Despite the many perks the support staff
received, we often felt slighted and were sometimes made to feel
strongly that we were merely overhead for the office, that the
consultants were the ones who were really making the money for the
firm.
McKinsey pays a lot of attention to diversity and has lots of programs
and groups within it to promote diversity. They offered domestic
partner benefits early on, for example, and did a lot of community
work. Frankly, though, their newly-minted MBA consultants tend to be
white and male, and 90% of the partners in my office were white males
(the others were white females). I was told when I was hired that there
was no room for advancement for someone in my position. The only way I
would advance would be if my direct manager left her job, which she had
no intention of doing (she'd been there 18 years already). Most of the
support staff did not advance at McKinsey, they either learned to
accept that and get reasonable raises each year (plus a generous profit-
sharing package), or they moved out. Consultants have a clear path to
advancement at McKinsey; in fact, it's an 'up or out'policy. Generally,
it is fairly 'self-weeding', fewer than 10% starting at McKinsey at
entry-level move up to partner. Some people thrive on the hard work and
competitiveness; many others find greener pastures. The benefits at
McKinsey are excellent. We had a choice of four different health
insurance plans, two of which offered premiums paid in full by the
Firm. We also had fully-paid dental, life, STD and LTD, Flexible
Spending Plans, and opportunities for group discounts with car
insurance and mortgages.
McKinsey provided adoption assistance and generous maternity leave.
When I was there, McKinsey had its own profit- sharing retirement plan
whereby the Firm (as it's called) would put aside the equivalent of 12%
of your salary each year into a fund. You were also allowed to make 401
(k)-type contributions to this plan. You had to be there the entire
year for the Firm to contribute to your fund; I left in October and did
not receive any contribution during my final year. Other perks in the
office were good, too. Free soda and beverages, free lunch brought to
the office every day if you needed to work through lunch, free dinner
if you had to work after 7:00pm, free cab rides to and from the office
if you were required to arrive before 7:00am or left after 8:00pm.
There were monthly social events (bowling nights, creative art
gatherings) and lots of opportunities to pick up free tickets to
various sporting events.
Despite all that, I personally never felt that I fully fit in at
McKinsey, that its rigid structure and chain of command was too strict
for me, and I was generally unhappy there. While my boss had assured me
that I was in charge of my department, I felt I was often shot down in
my attempts to implement changes because they were not what she wanted.
I sometimes felt that I was being set up to fail. Basically, my boss
and I did not see eye to eye on running my department and this was not
a battle that I was ever going to win. I left McKinsey after two years.
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