McKinsey is increasing the pressure on senior executives to move up – or leave. Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters
McKinsey has told some employees that the clock is ticking for a promotion, Bloomberg reports.
The memos follow a series of poor performance reviewswhich the company has recently distributed to its employees.
The consulting business is difficult at the moment because there are no orders.
This is a machine translation of an article from our US colleagues at Business Insider. It was automatically translated and checked by a real editor.
Employees in top consultancies are forced to prove their worth – or face the consequences. Management consultancy McKinsey & Co. has sent memos to some senior executives in North America warning them that the clock is ticking for a promotion, reports Bloomberg citing sources familiar with the matter.
The memos were sent to engagement managers and associate partners, who typically have eight or more years of professional experience, according to McKinsey job postings. They were reminded that it takes an average of two and a half years to get promoted in these positions, Bloomberg reports.
The underlying message: Get up or get out.
Some McKinsey consultants received severance packages
While McKinsey reported record revenues last year – thanks in part to generative AI – demand for consulting services has slowed across the industry in recent months.
Several large companies are therefore under pressure to tighten their belts. Consulting firm Accenture lowered its revenue forecast for this year, saying consulting revenue fell about three percent in the second fiscal quarter compared to last year. Consulting firm Deloitte began a massive overhaul of its global operations to cut costs.
Some of the McKinsey employees who received the memos also received severance offers if they decided to leave the company before their performance reviews, Bloomberg reported.
3000 consultants with poor performance ratings
The pressure to perform at McKinsey has been particularly high recently. The company has given about 3,000 employees poor performance reviews, referred to internally as “concerns.” When an employee receives such an evaluation, they typically have three months to improve their performance –– or be “advised to leave the company.”
“We have always maintained a high bar for performance and for recruiting and developing exceptional people,” a McKinsey spokesperson told Business Insider via email. “We routinely refine our approach to development and performance to ensure we continue to achieve these goals, and we continue to recruit diligently.”
The spokesperson also noted that people come to McKinsey to “learn and develop at an accelerated pace.”
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