Staff Aug shop run by inept middle management - Consultant Slalom Employee Review

- Staff aug: it's been repeated often. Slalom likes to say they're nothing like the big 4, which is true, because the big 4 engage in long-term, strategic projects, while Slalom fills bit roles in which an employee might be asked to run pivot tables at a client for a week (no joke). if you're interested in actually learning something beneficial for your career, steer clear. - Middle management: the solution principles, consultant managers, blah blah blah are some of the most inept and pretentious people i've ever worked with in my career. in my time at the company, all my projects were 'overseen' by one of these invisible entities, who would be offsite somewhere and send an email once a week to check on progress when in reality they have no idea about what you do day-to-day, and then be the ones responsible for writing your review. They'll base 100% of the review on client feedback, so good luck if dealing with a difficult client, since his/her word is golden. from what I could see, none of these middle management did any real work, just kept trying to create more staff aug roles that they could try to claim as their own in addition to just hitting the approve button on people's timesheets. Aside from a few select fellow consultants, I did not meet a single soul in any level above consultant who I would classify as someone i would personally work with. - Culture: I'm all for a positive work environment, but Slalom just takes it to new, unhealthy extremes. The quarterlies consisted of hourlong presentations in which vague and meaningless awards are given to people as if it were the Oscars, complete with applause and hollering. The happy hours are plentiful, until you realize it's the same cliquish people who've managed to tolerate teh company for more than 2 years going to every one. - Salary/Benefits: benefits are mediocre, aside from the cell phone and transportation reimbursement. I still can't figure out why there's a variable model salary that's available (thank god I chose full salary), other than to trick new consultants into taking it so that they can be paid half salary while on the bench (and trust me, there's a LOT of bench time).