Lifestyle Initiatives at MBB

Question

I have heard about the PTO initiative at BCG wherein senior leaders can check how the team members feel, their workloads, learnings, etc.

I wanted to check whether McKinsey and Bain too have similar initiatives or not.

Answer 1

Hi!

For those looking into this topic, here's an updated perspective you might find useful to read:

Expert Guide: How to Manage for Lifestyle in Consulting

Best,
Cristian

Answer 2

McKinsey does, but it really depends on the country how well this feedback is taken into account. For example, in Sweden it is taken VERY seriously – at some point I was a manager on a very difficutl DD and my team didn't have a great lifestyle, they filled out the weekly form (team barometer) and the next day I got a call from an office manager (the main senior partner in the Stockholm office) who asked me what was up.

However, in Germany in my experience nobody cares :) tactically, it's not even good to have a too good of a team barometer in Germany, because the partners will then think you as a manager are not challenging your teams enough :) So, really region-specific.

Answer 3

Hello!

Yest indeed!

Mckinsey has a very similar initiative, with results publised at office level in a weekly basis.

There, a number of KPIs are reported: whether teams are going home for dinner, overall mood, whether people have been ables to fullfull their personal comitments, etc.

However, in Mckinsey, the performance of the teams in this regard is not linked to any sort of bonus, etc.

I know in Bain, average of hours worked per team and at office level have been weekly reported and commented for years too.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 4

Hello,

Nowadays there are similar initiatives in every company but you should try to understand what is the real importance given to these initiatives internally.
I can assure you that in BCG PTO is extremely important and that every week there is a public matrix (in the office restaurant) summarizing the weekly results without any kind of censure.

Best,
Luca

Answer 5

Yes Bain has a similar initiative, and they take it seriously. In fact upward feedback from A and C based on this dimension is an important element in the evaluation of managers.

Answer 6

Yes, MBB have these initiatives and they vary depending on the geography.

Best,
Antonello