A.T. Kearney top UK employer for career progression
A.T. Kearney is according to Workingmums a ‘Top Employer for Career Progression’. The global strategy & management consultancy is praised for the manner with which it allows its consultants and staff tailor their career path, providing them with a balanced work-life in an industry notorious for its long working hours. Consulting firms Deloitte, IBM and Cream Consultancy were also shortlisted for an award.
Every year WorkingMums.co.uk, a UK community site for professional working mothers, organises its own ‘Top Employer Awards’. The ceremony, now in its fifth year, recognises employers who have been leading in flexible working and gender diversity, as well as companies that have been proactive in recruiting and retaining talented employees. The employer awards were held on Tuesday (4 November), at London's Soho Hotel.
In total 27 companies and their representatives were shortlisted for this year’s Awards, across nine categories. Among the finalists were also four consulting firms: A.T. Kearney, Deloitte, IBM and Cream Consultancy, a boutique advisory firm based in Barnsley.
Career Progression
In the category ‘Top Employers Award for Career Progression’, A.T. Kearney was named the best performer, in particular praised by the jury for its exemplary ‘Success with Flex’ programme, an internal initiative that offers consultants a suite of flexible work and alternative-path programs for greater flexibility in balancing the needs of both work and life. The program provides opportunities to work differently, such as through part-time options or working at home, or to do different work, such as internal job rotation or secondment to a client in a non-consulting role for a set period. The program was launched years ago and rolled out globally within the firm, including in the UK.
The award is even more a testimony to the firm’s policy, given its advisors operate in what is known to be the most hard working segment within the consulting industry. Overwork in strategy consulting is on average 5 to 10+ hours higher than in other market segments, the result of high-impact projects that typically need to be completed in a shorter time span. It’s however not the first time A.T. Kearney’s ‘Success with Flex’ programme is applauded by HR and diversity communities – in recent years the firm for instance consistently has been named a ‘Top 100 Company for Working Mothers’ by WorkingMother.com – together with industry peers Accenture, BCG, Bain, McKinsey and Oliver Wyman. “Hard work is a given, but we respect an individual’s personal time and encourage teams to consider flexible and creative work arrangements to accommodate work-life balance,” says A.T. Kearney.
An overview of the award winners per category:
- Overall Top Employer award: McMillan Williams Solicitors
- Top Employers Award for Innovation in Flexible Working: BAE Systems Maritime Naval Ships
- Top Employers Award for Career Progression: A.T. Kearney
- Top Employers Award for Best for Dads: London School of Economics and Political Science
- Top Employers Award for Talent Attraction: Reality HR
- Top Employers Award for Family Support: Bank of America Merrill Lynch
- Top Employers Award for SMEs with 1-25 employees: Hireserve
- Top Employers Award for SMEs with over 26-250 employees: McMillan Williams Solicitors
- Working Mums Champion Award: Adeline Ginn of Women in Rail
