Working hours at MBB and other firms

Well, the extreme working hours will be extreme, but typically they are only present in 10% of projects. 

An extreme, in book, was a project where I took a woke up at 3am for a 6am flight, then arrive at the client around noon and stayed at the client until 6am the following day, to then go to the hotel, nap, and go back for a board meeting at 9am. So, that's proper bad. 

Average is 9am to 9pm. 

Good lifestyle is when you leave the building at the same time as the client. That happens also in 10% of cases.

I actually wrote a guide on this that you might find useful:

• Expert Guide: How to Manage for Lifestyle in Consulting

Best,
Cristian

Great question — but the honest answer is: it really depends.

Across MBB and Tier 2 firms, hours can vary wildly by geography, practice area, and project. For example, a public sector case in Europe might be 9–7, while a PE due diligence or a turnaround in the major US/EMEA offices can easily push into midnight territory.

That said, the real gap is less about firm brand (MBB vs. T2) and more about the type of work. Strategy-heavy, high-pressure cases tend to burn harder, regardless of whether you're at MBB, OW, or even Big 4. On the flip side, implementation-focused roles (often at Big 4) can be steadier — but not always.

So yes, you’ll sleep — but in peak weeks, expect 12–14 hour days. The key difference is how sustainable the rhythm is over time and how much control you eventually gain over your staffing. Early on, you're expected to flex.

In my experience, average in SEA is about ~12-14 hours. It can get worse on really crazy projects, or better at times on more chill projects. 

The more interesting question is actually - what do you have to give up to get more sleep? Is it exercise? is it time with your significant other? 

That's often the more painful one. 

Hi there,

Exact hours depends on office and project. I can speak for McKinsey ASO (SE Asia) where an average project requires 14-15 hr days from 9 am to 11 pm/midnight while a tough project would requires 16-18 hrs from 9 am to 1 - 3 am, with occasional weekend work.

The remaining hours are mainly spent on sleeping and quick showers/meals. Given the amount of hours working, you will find that you'd still feel tired regardless of how many yours of sleep you have.

Great question and likely one of the most commonly asked questions when thinking about getting into consulting.

From my experience in an MBB in the Middle East - the target that the firm sets is 60 hours a week, which translates into 12 hour days (of work time). 

It is not uncommon to take a break of normally ~1.5 hours in the evening but that is not included in your 12 hours of work - important to keep that in mind.

Some cases will be much higher (e.g., 70-75 hour weeks - these are the really tough ones) an some will be nice and chill (e.g., 50-55 hours a week).

But i think the typical day for a consultant is 12 hours a day (not including travel typically). 

Your question on sleep - you do sleep, but likely during the week not as deep or long as other times in your life.

Some rules of thumb:

• Most projects you will work around 60 hours per week. That leaves time to sleep during the week.
• Weekend in general are yours and they do a great effort to respect those
• While most projects are 60 hours a week. the range is between 50-100hours. Expect ~10% to be 50-60h, 20% to be closer to 65-70h, and than 10% closer to 80h.
• Some weeks there will be a crunch... (assume 1 every month or every 2 months) meaning that you may work +10-20h on that week.
• Then you have "beach time". Time between projects to allow for recovery.

So, in general you sleep reasonably during the week, in some occasions you don't sleep much and will need to recover during the weekend.