This belief is particularly striking coming from consultants, who manage change in organizations for a living. Regardless of gender or parental status, they firmly believed that their jobs were inherently demanding and that their organizations could not become more family-friendly. Why would employees seek to preserve this feeling of control at the expense of their own well-being? Four main reasons stood out.įirst, the consultants we talked to stressed that work-life balance (and related policies) are simply incompatible with the job of consulting. She continues to carry intense regret about the outcome but emphasizes that the decision was her own choice, which gives her a sense of agency rather than victimization. Rather than accessing a flexible work option, she reluctantly conformed to the request. For example, one consultant was unable to visit her father on his deathbed because a client demanded her presence in another city. When asked why they didn’t try the flexibility benefits available to them, they dismissed them as unusable. Our interviewees told us about many family sacrifices, health problems, and suffering relationships due to their busy work schedules. The problem is that this perception of greater control didn’t seem to alleviate their work-life conflicts. (Our sample was half men and half women, half married or engaged and half unmarried, and 60% had been in consulting for fewer than five years.) We learned that in addition to stigma, these professionals also avoided flexibility policies in order to maintain a sense of personal control: they preferred the freedom to manage their work-life balance as they saw fit, rather than opting into a company policy. We interviewed 50 management consultants working at five prestigious firms based in the United States, asking them broadly about their careers and personal lives to understand the challenges they face. People fear that taking up these benefits - e.g., paid parental leave, part-time or compressed workweeks, extended leaves of absence, local or virtual projects to temporarily decrease travel, and ad-hoc periods of increased flexibility - will lead to them being seen as less committed to work. Research suggests that “ flexibility stigma” explains this disjuncture between the policies offered by firms and their limited uptake by employees.
This seems like a missed opportunity, especially since management consultants continue to experience extremely high levels of work-life conflict, leading to problems such as low satisfaction and high turnover. Most employees, however, don’t take advantage of them.
Management consulting firms offer some of the best workplace flexibility policies, including benefits like paid leaves and sabbaticals. Predictable Time Off at Boston Consulting Group.
Mass Career Customization and 3-4-5 travel schedules at Deloitte.
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