How the world’s biggest consultant became a bloated behemoth

McKinsey offers hundreds of senior staff an exit route as it seeks to trim the fat, reports

After five weeks of working 20-hour days, one McKinsey consultant decided enough was enough. He was overworked thanks to managers overpromising to clients in an effort to keep them happy during the downturn, meaning projects were under-resourced and delivered on the cheap – if for any fees at all.

Months after quitting in search of greener pastures, the former McKinsey analyst now wishes he hung on for just a little longer. Hundreds of senior employees at the consulting giant’s UK and US offices have been offered the chance to step back from client projects and spend nine months searching for new jobs – all while being paid in full.

McKinsey departees will have access to career coaching and administrative support during this time, such as help with updating their CV. If they still haven’t found a new employer after nine months, they are on their own,

The Sunday Times first reported. The exit route may appeal to the large swathes of consultants who have been languishing on what McKinsey insiders call “the beach”, where days are spent working on internal business development rather than billable client work. Although initially giving employees the chance to relax from their usual 80-hour weeks, these metaphorical holidays can lead to consultants going months without gaining any real experience.

However, the scheme raises questions about whether the doyen of the consulting world has simply become too big. McKinsey, which recorded $16bn (£13bn) of revenue last year, has long been the go-to fixer for companies and governments needing help cracking their toughest problems. After years of expansion, McKinsey now finds itself with a workforce of 45,000 employees in 65 countries, up 60pc from the 28,000 people in 2018.

Fiona Czerniawska, the chief executive and founder of Source Global Research, says: “The work is often now more precise, more specialised. So it’s made them bigger, more diversified and that puts the business model that underpins a consulting firm under pressure.” Last year, McKinsey unveiled one of its largest restructurings in the firm’s 98-year history – eliminating 1,400 back office and support roles.

Critics have also questioned whether McKinsey’s expansion has come at the cost of quality. The firm has long been known as a breeding ground for future chief executives because of the amount of McKinseyites who go from advising big businesses to running them. Consultants turned chief executives include Lloyds Bank’s Charlie Nunn, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai and Vodafone’s Vittorio Colao. However, some argue that the rise of ideological echo chambers and self-censorship on university campuses is hampering the free exchange of ideas and stopping future McKinsey recruits from developing the skills needed for effective problem solving.

“There has been a change in the way the elite are educated,” says Ethan M Rasiel, a former McKinsey consultant and author of The McKinsey Way.

“They are less able to think critically and also less morally grounded. Critical thinking is a skill, not simply a script.” The post-pandemic push towards hybrid working is also dragging down on the quality of more senior recruits, says James O’Dowd, founder and managing partner of professional services recruiter Patrick Morgan.

“A lot of these organisations have resorted to working remotely since the pandemic and I do think they’ve suffered in terms of learning at more junior levels,” he says.

Such concerns are troubling, as clients struggling with harder economic times want to know what they’re getting for their money, says Source’s Czerniawska. “It’s very hard to find evidence about where firms say ‘this is what we actually did’,” she says.

A McKinsey spokesman said: “These actions are part of our ongoing effort to ensure our performance management and development approach is as effective as possible, and to do so in a caring and supportive way.”