What is your annual bonus structure?

Question

Hi all, I'd like to understand what is the bonus structure at different consulting firms. I'll share mine first:

Role: Consultant level at a boutique consulting firm

Bonus structure: typically 20% for consultant level (30% for manager) * company multiplier (depending on the company performance)

I'm keen to learn:

1. Is 20% annual bonus baseline for consultant level / 30% for manager a typical industry practice? Is this on the high or low end compared to your firm?

2. Do you have a “guaranteed” annual bonus? Or, the bonus is purely “company discretionary” and you might get no bonus in bad times?

Thanks for sharing!

Answer 1

Hi,

Bonus is quite firm dependent. I would say ~30% is on the low end of bonus for managers at T1 firms.

And yes, if times are bad there might be no bonus, or a very low bonus.

All the best!

Answer 2

Hi there!

Realistically speaking, there's a huge variability between firms, so you might get several answers here but they will only give you a high-level understanding of how bonuses work at different firms.

In McKinsey, you'd have the annual bonus which was calculated in a rather complex way as a consequence of your performance (e.g., Distinctive had a higher bonus than Strong), firm performance and office performance. I don't remember on the spot, but it shouldn't been somewhere in the range of 20% or so, but it varied by quite a bit.

Best,
Cristian

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Answer 3

Hi there,

There's quite a big range honestly!

It can be as low as 10% and as high as 50%+.

Within roles (consultant, project lead, etc.) there are bands as well. So, BCG consultant was something like 10-35% for us, if memory serves correctly.

The bands increase as seniority goes up.

Additionally, the $ amount fluctuates as the % is off of company performance.

Remember, this all changes a lot by firm and region of the world!

Answer 4

Hello,

As you probably suspect, this varies a lot between various regions, firms, and offices.

My experience at McK was similar to what Cristian described. Within each role, your bonus was determined by your performance, which was roughly categorized into three categories, with three different bonus levels as a result. I don't know what the exact percentages were, and they almost certainly will have changed since my time there, and I suspect there's some variation by role too.

I don't think bonuses are guaranteed in general - the company usually has the right to pay lower/no bonuses in tough times, for instance.