Pros
The benefits at Ryan are among the best out there. Medical Insurance does not cost a lot and the plans are great - I don’t go to the doctor often. The company places a lot of value in employee health and the partnership with Humana Vitality makes you want to stay active even more. The work life balance is also something the company values. Working at Ryan, as with any company, you may have some long days in order to complete projects, but mostly you will not find that you are at work more than you are at home. The myRyan system which fosters the attitude of "with great freedom, comes great responsibility" really does work as long as you work for the right manager and in the right office. If you are a self-driven individual and work for a manager/director that actually allows employees to utilize the myRyan program, you will be able to work from home and set your own schedule. The pay is decent and in Tax Compliance you can expect monthly bonuses based on your clients. Bonuses are much less frequent in practices for which the work is mainly based on a contingent fee.
Cons
As mentioned in the Pros section - the flexibility will depend on the manager for whom you work. There are far more managers who do not allow the use of the myRyan flexible schedule program than managers that encourage the use of it. Raises and promotions are a joke. Metrics that are beyond your control will partially determine your promotion. You are assigned the clients you work on; you do not get to choose. The amounts the clients pay, in addition to the bonuses you receive, are part of the metrics upper management use to determine raise and promotion eligibility. Additionally, client service scores are figured into these metrics. If you work on a client that has multiple teams and employees working on it, you stand the risk of receiving a bad client evaluation due to poor performance of another team. This has happened. It does not take a genius to figure out that these metrics will work against you when you have no control over the work you are handed or the other teams with which you are forced to work. The company will also tell you that you can receive bonuses for referring business as well as referring employees that get hired. A word of caution - get everything in writing. The company's online "handbook" is extremely vague, and the people at the very top decide how they will apply the vague details of compensation. Even with proof of being responsible for bringing on an active client, you will face an uphill battle getting the bonuses they say you could receive. This has happened. Also, if you refer anyone, make sure that both you and the person you refer make it very well known that you referred them. Directors have been known to take referral bonuses. This has happened. Ryan can also be a boys or girls club, depending on what team you are on. The practice I am in is mostly females, and it is disgusting the way partners and directors gossip to employees in the practice (not just at their level) about other employees, partners, and directors. I am a female and the fact that these women perpetuate the stereotypical female gossip in the workplace is appalling. I have worked on teams that are predominantly male as well, and while you won’t run into the gossip issue, you may run in to your typical male chauvinist problem. Now, that is not true for all teams, but definitely more than a few countrywide. No company is without its problems, and unfortunately the problems at Ryan are growing. I am not sure if this is due to the rapid expansion of the company, or just poor managers hidden by hard working employees, or a combination of both. Ryan seems to be retaining many garbage employees and managers. When process improvements are made, recognition does not go to the person or team that deserve it, but rather the person that can kiss the most gluteus maximus. The browner your nose, regardless of how poor your work or leadership is, the better you will do. Unfortunately, the Transaction Tax Compliance Practice fosters this behavior. If you are not someone that just agrees with whatever bird brained idea is put in to practice, you will not do well. Upper management does not like to be shown or told that something is wrong; especially when the something wrong is done by managers/directors. The approach is to stick your head in the sand and act like it hasn’t happened - until it is a Sean Weaver sized issue. Lying to clients and a complete lack of accountability is where it starts. Accountability is a large problem in this practice. Certain employees are protected (not just protected, but promoted) regardless of how many times they screw something up, while others are publicly ridiculed for far less. The double standards that have been set in place are despicable. Also, keep in mind that the browner your nose is, the better clients you will get. The better the clients you get, the more you will make in bonuses. The whole system is rigged so that those who are in the "circle of trust", who have their heads up each other's rectums, make the most. I gave the company 2 stars because if you work for the right team and manager, it can be a great place to work. The Transaction Tax Compliance practice is not that place.