Last Updated on March 6, 2024
In the high-stakes world of business consulting, firms like McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Bain & Company stand at the top of prestige and influence. These organizations are not only known for their strategic acumen and the transformative impact they have on their clients but also for the demanding work schedules their consultants endure.
Our comprehensive exploration delves deep into the work hours at these top-tier consulting firms, providing aspiring consultants and industry observers with a detailed breakdown of what to expect. This analysis aims to shed light on the commitment required to thrive in such competitive environments, balancing client demands with personal resilience.
Drawing upon insights from “Consulting Career Secrets,” this article provides a glimpse into the rigorous work hours characteristic of top-tier consulting firms.
From late-night strategy sessions to home-office Fridays, we uncover the realities behind the glamorous façade of consulting life.
Join us as we navigate the rigors of consulting work schedules, offering insights and advice for those ready to embark on a career at McKinsey, BCG, or Bain.
Average Weekly Work Hours of a Top-Tier Consultant
Consulting firms are notorious for their grueling work hours. In fact, most consultants highlight this aspect as a key downside of the consulting job.
However, your workload can vary significantly from week to week, depending on numerous factors. It is crucial to differentiate between “project time,” when you work on client engagements and “beach time,” when you focus on proposals, recruitment, or knowledge development efforts between client projects. The workload during projects is typically more intense than during unstaffed time.
On average, a consultant working on a client project may log 50 to 80 hours per week, with a rough estimate based on personal experience and industry knowledge placing the average in the lower 60s. Some weeks or projects may require longer hours, while only occasionally will the workload dip below 60 hours. You can expect to work 30 to 60 hours per week during unstaffed time, with the average likely falling within the 40s.
These long working hours are a key reason for the high salaries at McKinsey, BCG, and Bain.
Factors that Influence Consulting Working Hours
Several factors influence the workload of management consultants:
Project duration: Longer projects typically have more evenly distributed weekly hours since critical milestones and meetings are spaced out. In contrast, shorter projects can be more intense, often requiring late-night work and considerable stress.
Project type: Turnaround, restructuring, due diligence, and actual strategy engagements usually require longer work hours than implementation-focused projects due to the time-sensitive nature of the tasks or the sheer volume of work.
Leadership attention: High senior leadership engagement or multiple (senior) partners often lead to longer hours, as conflicting instructions or heightened expectations may arise.
Project management experience: Skilled project managers who prioritize tasks and push back against excessive demands can reduce workload. In contrast, inexperienced or ineffective project managers may increase hours spent in the team room.
Client expectations and behavior: Consultants often work longer hours with clients who have extensive experience with consultancies, have been consultants themselves, or if they are involved in hostile or political client situations.
Leadership promotions: Project managers or junior partners nearing promotion may be more inclined to put in extra effort and expect their teams to do the same, as they seek to impress during their promotion window.
Scope creep and staffing: Unanticipated expansions in project scope or inadequate staffing can lead to longer work hours.
Your capabilities: The concept of “face time” is typically non-existent. You are not required to remain at work until a specific time. Instead, you can leave as soon as your work for the day is completed. A partner once told me, “We are an output-driven organization, not an input-driven organization,” which reflects this fact well. The more proficient you are in your work, the more effectively you can manage your work hours and lifestyle and push back against unreasonable requests.
Example of a Regular MBB Consultant’s Week
The workweek generally peaks between Monday and Wednesday, when you are physically present at the client site, averaging 10 to 16 hours daily. Thursday is a cooldown day, with you traveling home in the evening and typically working for 10 to 12 hours. The designated home office day on Fridays can range from six to 12 work hours.
A typical schedule for a consultant might look like this:
- Monday: Leave home at 5.30 am to board a 7 am flight to the client site. Work at the client location and the hotel until midnight.
- Tuesday to Wednesday: Work from 9 am to midnight, taking short breaks for lunch and dinner, with one longer team dinner scheduled during these days.
- Thursday: Begin work at 9 am, wrap up by 5 pm, then take a taxi to the airport and fly home, arriving between 8 pm and 11 pm.
- Friday: Work from home or the office between 9 am and 5 pm.
After attempting to recharge over the weekend, the cycle repeats on Monday. This pattern continues until the project concludes, and then the process begins anew with a different project. Before you know it, your first year in consulting has come and gone.
However, no two weeks are identical. Some weeks may be more intense, particularly those leading to crucial milestones. In contrast, others may be less demanding, allowing more time for rest, exercise, team dinners, events, early departures, or shorter Fridays. Keep in mind that, in addition to client work, consultants are expected to contribute to other firm activities such as recruitment, interviews, and event organization. Additionally, allocate one to two hours every two weeks for expense reports and other administrative tasks.
A snapshot of a typical week for an associate-level consultant might involve various tasks related to project deliverables (titled “Work” in the slide), such as data collection, analysis, and slide creation. Team problem-solving sessions are scheduled to review critical analyses, findings, and insights and plan subsequent steps. Weekly team check-ins help to discuss the week, action items, crucial meetings, and deliverables. Check-outs recap the week and provide an outlook on the next week.
Bi-weekly steering committee (SteerCo) meetings provide updates to C-level project sponsors, discussing recommendations based on conducted analyses and outlining the next steps. The time leading up to project updates is often the most stressful part of the week.
In practice, the weekly schedule is often more fragmented, as unexpected client or leadership visits to the team room, impromptu meetings, and calls may frequently interrupt your core work. Also, the type of work might be more diverse. For instance, you might fly to visit a factory or run an off-site workshop with client C-level executives.
Project managers would have a similar schedule but with more client and leadership alignment meetings and less hands-on analytical work.
Do not forget to factor in travel time at least twice a week. Some projects may be in your home city, eliminating the need for travel, while others may require more extensive travel, such as multiple flights per week to various client sites. Although you can work while traveling (e.g., in airport lounges or during flights), this is generally less efficient and more cumbersome. Moreover, working on visual materials in public is not permitted due to the need to protect client confidentiality.
Work Hours Outside of MBB
In the consulting industry, work hours can vary significantly across different tiers of firms. Tier-2 firms, such as Oliver Wyman, Roland Berger, and Kearney, often match or even exceed the long hours found at the most prestigious firms, partly due to thinner support staff layers. Meanwhile, tier-3 and boutique consultancies, alongside Big 4 advisory services like Monitor Deloitte and EY Parthenon, typically see reduced work hours, offering a slightly better work-life balance.
At the other end of the spectrum, in-house consulting groups within large corporations tend to adhere to a more conventional 9-5 workday, providing a stark contrast to the often intense schedules of external consulting firms.
This range reflects the diverse expectations and lifestyles within the consulting profession, from the high demands of top-tier firms to the more balanced approach of in-house teams.
Regardless of the firms, work hours and the constant stress are a key reason why consultants exit the industry and find lucrative opportunities elsewhere.
