Flexible work as a consultant? You’re dreaming

Consulting is not for individuals looking for the equivalent of a ‘nine-to-five’ job because clients still dictate project deadlines, warn four veteran advisers.

Edmund Tadros, Professional services editor

Consultants are dreaming if they expect they will be able to take full advantage of new “flexible working” rules at the major firms as clients still dictate project deadlines, according to four veteran advisers.

The consultants – including leaders at KPMG, Accenture, Deloitte and a former senior PwC partner – say that while there is now more opportunity to work remotely and during non-standard hours, the role continues to have a heavy workload and is simply not suited for individuals looking for the equivalent of a nine-to-five job.

Consulting is not the kind of job you take if you want to work regular hours, says Accenture managing director of strategy and consulting Louise May. 

“I think the people who are drawn to consulting are drawn to the environment, which is a combination of big problems, short time frames and a lot at stake. They’re drawn to that complexity and that richness,” Louise May, the head of Accenture Australia’s strategy and consulting business, said.

“So I don’t think it’s the kind of place you go to if you want to work regular hours.

“I think within that construct, there’s the ability to have flexibility. And there is the ability to work with your client and with your employer to have a level of flexibility, but I don’t think [it works] if you’re looking for a nine-to-five role.”

Accenture offers staff the ability to work flexibly in terms of location and hours, but Ms May said the firm still wanted at least “eight hours of productive work” each workday from its consultants. (An expectation that translates into a working day well beyond those eight hours.)

“So we would say to our people, the expectation is that you’re finding eight hours a day of really good, productive work. But where and how you work those hours, there’s now a lot more flexibility around it,” she said.

Ms May also said that there also needed to be core hours each day – which she said could be 9am to midday and 2pm to 5pm – where consultants needed to be available.

”I think the realistic point is that there will always be a concept of core hours because they’re the points in time when individuals can reasonably get together,” she said.

“But equally, I think as work gets more complicated and more complex and more creative then I think individuals crave and need time to do deeper thinking and thought.

‘Above and beyond’

Clare Harding, Deloitte’s chief strategy officer, warned that consulting remained a client-driven business with highly variable workloads.

“By nature, consulting is not a ‘nine-to-five’ career. It is both demanding and rewarding and there are peaks and troughs in the hours needed to deliver on client work,” she said.

“At times we work more than the equivalent of nine-to-five hours, and we balance this across our teams. This is why flexible working is important so that our teams can balance their personal commitments with work and look after their wellbeing.”

Deloitte chief strategy officer Clare Harding says the firm’s consultants often wanted to go “above and beyond” for clients. Peter Braig

A fortnight ago, Deloitte followed its big four rivals PwC, EY and KPMG in unveiling a new flexible working policy for its 10,000-strong workforce that allowed them to decide when and where they will work. The policy included eliminating set start and finish times, with staff also able to move to 100 per cent remote working.

But an individual’s ability to take advantage of that flexibility will vary depending on their role at the firm and client needs.

Ms Harding said that while working hours varied, the firm’s consultants often wanted to go “above and beyond” for clients.

“Many of our successful consultants have dialled their hours up and down during their careers – they have been successful because they can flex their working patterns to meet client demands, their phase of life or to balance peaks and troughs in project needs,” she said.

“Flexible work doesn’t necessarily mean our consultants work less; it means they have choices about when and where they work. The main thing for us is transparency of communication, delivering outcomes for clients and making sure we are helping our team members manage their wellbeing.”

Carmen Bekker, who leads KPMG’s customer, brand and marketing advisory business, agreed that the where and when of consulting roles was now more flexible, but workloads remain driven by client expectations.

KPMG partner Carmen Bekker in lockdown at her home in Sydney. Rhett Wyman

“At the end of the day we have to help our clients meet their deadlines. We’re a client-led business – clients come to us to help solve problems. We commit to a timeline and deadline when we commit to our projects, and we always deliver to that. We don’t mind where you’re based. You can work on Sydney clients and be based in the countryside,” Ms Bekker said.

”We give our people the ability to manage how and where they work, so they can work from a farm or do the school run. But at the end of the day we need to help our clients meet their deadlines.”

Jon Williams, a co-founder of boutique consultancy Fifth Frame and former senior partner at PwC, said the flexibility had to work both ways.

“The flexibility has to go both ways,” says Jon Williams, co-founder of consultancy Fifth Frame. 

“Clients are much more accepting of flexible schedules from consulting staff now because they also allow flexible working in their own organisations. It’s become somewhat normal. That view took a while to take hold. It’s changed over the past four to five years as more companies went flex,” he said.

“What you’re doing is treating staff as adults and you want them to behave as responsible members of the team. The flexibility has to go both ways … consulting is about responding to client needs, which is often out of working hours. If you’re going to be rigid about flexible working hours, it doesn’t work.”

He said clients come to consultants to solve problems they could not solve themselves.

“Clients want a solution to a complex problem they can’t solve themselves, often within an arbitrary time frame, and you want to give them the best possible solution in the time frame allowed. The only negotiable is how many hours of the time frame you use to solve the problem, and the keener, more ambitious you are, the more you choose to devote to it,” he said.