Nh 2011 Consulting Magazine Best Firms

irmsBestFBY JESS SCHEER

2011TOWORK FOR

North Highland is #35th Year in Top Four Firms

Volume Ten: Issue Six September/October 2008

T H E P E O P L E • T H E P R O F E S S I O N • T H E L I F E S T Y L E

www.consultingmag.com

THE BEST small FIRMS TO WORK FOR

CATEGORY KILLERS IN...CULTURE, CAREER DEVELOPMENT,

COMPENSATION, WORK/LIFE BALANCE, JOB SATISFACTION AND FIRM LEADERSHIP

BEST IN CLASS TOP FIRMS BY SERVICE LINE

EXCLUSIVE SURVEY DATA TRENDS IN TRAVEL, TRAINING, MORALE,

RETENTION, CLIENT DELIVERY AND MORE

Reign of

PLUS

BainTheThe

Steve Ellis, WorldwideManaging Director of Bain & Company,Leads the Firm to itsSixth Straight Crown

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Focu

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Health

care

CONSULTINGVolume Nine : I s sue F ive September/October 2007

T H E P E O P L E • T H E P R O F E S S I O N • T H E L I F E S T Y L E

It’s Bain’s World: Once Again, Firm Ranked #1BCG overtakes rival McKinsey • 4 newcomers make their mark

www.consultingmag.com

PLUS

Epr inted and posted with permission to Nor th Highland f rom Consult ing magazine, September/October © 2011 Kennedy Information, LLC Expirat ion date: 9/21/2012

Printed Copy for Personal Use Only. Not for Distribution

North Highland continues to impressyear after year. For the second straight

year, the Atlanta-based multi-service firmis No. 3 on Consulting’s annual Best Firmsto Work For list. In fact, the firm has beenranked either third of fourth all five yearsit’s appeared on the list.

Plenty has happened at North Highlandsince it debuted on our Best Firms to Work For List at No. 4 in 2007. For starters,back then it only had 630 consultants (itdid, however, have an additional 500 or sofrom partner firms overseas). Today,that number has risen to 2,200 and will

continue to do so, according to NorthHighland CEO Dan Reardon. And whynot? The firm continues to grow about 30percent a year.

Reardon says the firm is eyeing newservices, new U.S. offices (it currently has21), and international expansion throughnew geographies (it’s currently in 28 of-fices in Europe and Asia Pacific) and theaddition of new global accounts.

“One of our biggest success stories isthe international growth we’re building.In China alone our business has dou-bled,” Reardon says.

“The list of clients we are serving asglobal and national accounts is impres-sive. We’re doing some very innovativework with our healthcare and financialservices clients, as well as with our gov-ernment clients,” he says.

“And as our clients have begun tofocus more on top-line growth, we’redoing some exciting work with them inthe strategy and customer experience/engagement space. Given our growth andfuture plans, growing and hiring leadersis my personal focus.”

After adding three new U.S. marketsand expanding the firm’s capabilities inLondon, Shanghai, Tokyo and Dubai,Reardon says identifying and hiring thebest talent is essential to the firm’s con-tinued long-term success.

In addition, the firm has undertaken several key initiatives and added resourcesto build internal infrastructure in HR, per-formance management, information serv-ices and knowledge management.

Meanwhile, Reardon says being a BestFirm to Work For has had a definitive im-pact on the firm both internally and exter-nally. Externally, he says, the recognitionallows North Highland to apply a metricto the firm’s culture, and helps with theall-important goal of attracting and retain-ing the very best industry talent.

Internally, Reardon says the award hasformalized what he’s always known to betrue. “Our culture, this ‘secret sauce’ werefer to around here, really works, even inthe face of tremendous growth.

“There is great satisfaction about thatfor our employees, as some of those whocame here in the early days have wonderedwhether the specialness of North Highlandcould last as the company expanded,” hesays. “After five years of this top-tier recognition, during both great and difficulttimes, we see proof that it can.” —J.K.

NORTH HIGHLAND 3

“Our culture,this ‘secretsauce’ werefer to a lothere, reallyworks, evenin the face of

tremendous growth.”—DAN REARDON, CEO

2011TOWORKFORirmsBestF

Q AOn the Best Firms to Work For survey, North Highland scoredhighest in the areas of Work/Life Balance, Client Engagementand Culture. Consulting asked Dan Reardon, CEO of North Highland, why he thought the firm excelled in these areas. His response is below.

&Work/Life Balance“A lot of companies talk about work/life bal-ance. Here, we mean it. Consulting is hardwork so we want you to enjoy your downtime. We want you to have dinner with yourfamily. We want you to have time to give backto your community. We want you to take yourvacation. And if you have a family issue thatneeds your time, there’s nowhere else wethink you should be.”

Client EngagementWe are passionate about client service. There-

fore, we hire experience and passion. Thatmeans we have the skills and perspective towork more quickly to help clients achieve exceptional results that become true game-changers. Our structure allows us to quick-start projects and adapt to changes faster.

CultureBecause we are employee-owned, we can obsess over satisfying clients instead of share-holders. We collaborate for the benefit of the client, and we guarantee the quality of our work. All of our work drives value.

HEADQUARTERS: Atlanta

CONSULTANTS: 2,200

SERVICE LINE: Multi-Service

TOP SURVEY CATEGORIES:Culture, Work/Life Balance, Client Engagement

SURVEY FEEDBACK: “It’s stimulatingwork with colleagues I enjoy workingwith, and I have the balance I need toenjoy my life outside of work. Plus, weguarantee the work we do; I’ve workedfor a few very large consulting firms and they would never make that state-ment. That’s huge for me.”



THE TOP 10 FIRMS IN...

Client Engagement

1) Bain & Company

2) The Boston Consulting Group

3) North Highland

4) Point B

5) A.T. Kearney

6) Oliver Wyman

7) Alix Partners

8) Deloitte Consult-ing

9) Kurt Salmon

10) PRTM

Firm Culture

1) Bain & Company

2) North Highland


4) Point B


6) Monitor

7) Slalom Consulting

8) Capgemini

9) PwC

10) McKinsey & Company

Career Development

1) Bain & Company


3) North Highland4) McKinsey &

Company5) PwC

6) Ernst & Young7) Deloitte Consulting8) Booz Allen

Hamilton9) Accenture

10) Slalom ConsultingCompensation

Satisfaction

1) Bain & Company



4) Deloitte Consulting

5) North Highland6) Booz & Company


8) Point B

9) Booz Allen Hamilton

10) Alvarez & Marsal

Work/Life Balance Satisfaction

1) Point B2) North Highland3) Slalom Consulting

4) Bain & Company

5) Crowe Horwath(formerly Crowe Chizek)

6) Booz & Company



9) PwC

10) Grant Thornton

Firm LeadershipSatisfaction

1) Bain & Company


3) Point B

4) North Highland


6) Monitor

7) Oliver Wyman

8) AlixPartners

9) A.T. Kearney

10) PwC

irmsBestF toworkfor 2011

Client EngagementThis category reflects the quality of work consultants perceive theirfirm is doing. It is not a measure of the actual work being done, butthe more valuable a firm’s consultants perceives their work to be, themore engaged they tend to be in their client’s—and firm’s—success.

Firm CultureFirm culture reflects the shared values, standards, ethics, and goalsof a firm. Gone are the days when firms would hire a generation of future partners from a leading campus and hone their skills and ethosover the course of a career. Today’s firms are comprised of talent thathas spent years at other firms, and in other industries. Building andsustaining a strong culture, despite the lack of homogony in back-ground and life experiences, becomes all the more difficult.

Firm LeadershipEconomic uncertainty tests leadership in big ways. The layoffs of2009 tested their decision-making and internal communication skills.In 2010, leadership had to chart a new course and generate confi-dence in the firm’s direction. The more confidence the rank and fileconsultants have in their leaders, the more apt they are to be happyat their firm. But the opposite is also true.

Career DevelopmentThe campus pipeline is just starting to be refilled this year, which will force some promotions up through the higher staffing levels.However, setting and communicating those goals is a challenge. Handling it well can make consultants want to stay with your firmlonger; doing it poorly can encourage defections.

Work/Life BalanceThis category reflects how well consultants perceive their firm as enabling them to balance their life outside of their day job. Given theheavy work and travel regiment required, this is a difficult task. Butunderstanding which firms handle this challenge can go a long way to identifying true employers of choice.

Compensation & BenefitsThis category reflects consultants’ satisfaction with their compensa-tion and non-cash benefits and does not necessarily reflect whichfirms pay the most. The happier consultants are with their job, themore they’re willing to settle for making less. Such is the case withconsultants from smaller firms who continue to report higher satisfac-tion despite smaller paychecks. But when consultants are unhappy,this category tends to be the easy scapegoat for their frustrations.

To be named a Best Firm to Work For, firms were rankedin six categories. Each measures a different aspect ofemployee satisfaction, and each poses its own challengesin today’s market environment. The following describesthe issues at play within each category.

What Makes a ‘Best Firm’?

THE BEST FIRMS TO WORK FOR, 2011

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Bain & Company

The Boston Consulting Group

North Highland

Point B

Deloitte Consulting

Slalom Consulting

McKinsey & Company

PwC

Booz Allen Hamilton

Huron Consulting Group

Ernst & Young

Accenture

Crowe Horwath

Monitor

A. T. Kearney

9

10

11

12

13

14

15



Which Large Firm’s Consultants Believe Their Work Is Meeting Clients’ Needs Most Often?

Firm Score (1-5 Scale) Crowe Horwath 4.66

North Highland 4.66The Boston Consulting Group 4.64

Slalom Consulting 4.63

Bain & Company 4.62

Point B 4.57

Huron Consulting Group 4.53

AlixPartners 4.51

A.T. Kearney 4.49

Oliver Wyman 4.49

2011 Survey Average ..............................................4.35

Which Large Firm’s Consultants Believe Their Work Has a Positive Impact on Clients Most Often?

Firm Score (1-5 Scale)Point B 4.71

North Highland 4.64Slalom Consulting 4.64

Bain & Company 4.63

Huron Consulting Group 4.62

Boston Consulting Group 4.59

Crowe Horwath 4.52

PwC 4.49

Booz & Company 4.49

Alvarez & Marsal 4.47

2011 Survey Average..................................................4.37

irmsBestF toworkfor 2011

Which Large Firms Have The Highest Morale?

Firm Score (1-5 Scale)Slalom Consulting 4.68Bain & Company 4.55Crowe Horwath (formerly Crowe Chizek) 4.50North Highland 4.47The Boston Consulting Group 4.44Point B 4.33Infosys Consulting 4.31PwC 4.118McKinsey & Company 4.17Alvarez & Marsal 4.12

2011 Survey Average................................................ 3.89

• StrategyConsulting services intended to improve thelong-term growth prospects of a companyand the capabilities to enable that growth.

THE BEST FIRMS BY SERVICE LINE 2011

Strategy

1) Bain & Company

2) Boston Consulting Group

3) North Highland



6) Booz Allen Hamilton

The Best Firms to Work For rankings are based on an online survey con-ducted in the summer of 2011. More than 13,000 consultants participated,representing approximately 350 firms. The consultants operate in everyservice line, across at least 32 different project/practice areas, and serveclients across all major industries. About three-quarters of the respondentscame from the United States. Consultants at every staff level participated.Below is a breakdown of participants, by staff level.

13%

11%

32%

16%

28%

Partner/VP

Director/Manager

Senior/Experienced Consultant

Consultant/Recent MBA

Entry Level/Analyst

Who Took the 2011 Survey?

Epr inted and posted with permission to Nor th Highland f rom Consult ing magazine, September/October © 2011 Kennedy Information, LLCPeterborough, NH 03458 USA Te l : 800-531-0007 or 603-924-1006 Fax : 603-924-4460

Emai l : consu l t ingmag@kennedy in fo .com Web: www.Consu l t ingmag .com Expirat ion date: 9/21/2012


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Nh 2011 Consulting Magazine Best Firms