The 2018 Best Firms to Work For: FTI Consulting

Consulting Service Lines:  Financial Consulting

Each year, it seems, a firm comes in and shakes up the Best Firms to Work For rankings. This year, that firms is FTI Consulting. The Washington, DC-based Financial Consulting firm is making its Best Firms debut this year at No. 8.  

"For us to be named a Best Firm to Work For speaks to the core mission that we have been on these last few years, which is to ensure we are leveraging our expertise to help our clients with the most significant challenges they face," says Steven Gunby, President and CEO of FTI Consulting. "As a result, we are winning the biggest assignments and  providing tremendous opportunities for our people to support their growth and development." 

Over the last several years a huge amount of people have done a huge amount of work to unleash the underlying potential of FTI Consulting, Gunby says, focusing on identifying and betting boldly behind positions where it feels it has a right to win, and pursuing adjacencies to better serve clients, drive earnings and create opportunities for the staff. 

"The result of these moves has not only been substantial increases in the number of external accolades and large-scale jobs won, and a record number of promotions, but also a record number of lateral hires. Importantly, our morale reflects that progress."  

As a result, the firm's morale has never been better. "Our most recent Employee Engagement Survey had the highest employee satisfaction and engagement numbers since we started the survey in 2014," Gunby says. "We also saw the best scores we have had for teamwork and collaboration across the firm."

One of the reasons, Gunby says, is because over the past few years leadership has worked to ensure the firm is building an inclusive and transparent culture. Some of these efforts have been turbocharging existing programs, and some of these are new. 

"Collectively, these initiatives enable FTI Consulting to be more than the sum of its parts because collaboration and teaming across our global platform creates more opportunities for growth for our people and more effective and diverse teams for our clients," Gunby says. 

FTI is a firm that thrives when there is change and disruption, Gunby says. "Our job is to evolve with the market by identifying opportunities for our clients and adjacent businesses where we have a right to win," he says. "What excites me is that today we are thinking like this across the firm. Our momentum in our business is not because of one or two people—it is a result of the breadth of leadership that is being shown across the firm," Gunby says. "And that enthusiasm and teaming is what has me most excited about the remainder of 2018 and beyond."

What's unique about your firm? What sets it apart?

Gunby: "When you join (or hire) FTI Consulting, you are working with the leading experts in their fields. Our staff includes over 100 PhD economists; former CEOs and CFOs; former leaders of the DOJ, SEC, FTC and FCC; Nobel Laureates and former high-ranking government officials. Our people are not just consultants; they established the theory, wrote the book and taught the class. As a result, we have developed a reputation as the firm our clients call on when their most important issues are at stake."