The 2018 Best Firms to Work For: West Monroe Partners

Consulting Service Lines: Operations Excellence, Customer Experience, Mergers & Acquisitions, Technology

West Monroe Partners is back for a seventh straight year, settling into the same spot—No. 3—on the Best Firms to Work For survey as last year, marking another impressive showing for the Chicago based firm. And based on the firm's performance last year, it's not surprising. 

CEO Kevin McCarty says the business continues to enjoy robust growth—growing a whopping 34 percent last year, and revenues are up more than 20 percent so far this year. 

Meanwhile, the firm's ESOP share value grew nearly 55 percent in 2017 and has increased more than 10-fold since its inception five years ago.

"These results show that the concept of employee ownership is alive and well within West Monroe," McCarty says. "We would not realize this type of performance without strong morale and motivation. Being busy is great —but it is even better when we are doing interesting work and seeing the value our clients realize as a result of our effort. In fact, our people tell us that our work has never been more interesting and that it continues to become more so as we take on challenging projects for the blue-chip clients."

McCarty says West Monroe is most excited about reaching a very significant milestone this fall when the firm welcomes its new hire class and officially crossed the 1,000-employee mark. "While 1,000 is just a number, we view this as symbolic of how far we have come as an organization in just 16 years, with no outside venture or private equity funding," he says. 

To that end, he says being recognized as a best firm continues to position West Monroe well in the war for top talent—attracting the interest of everyone from top college recruits to seasoned consultants and executives with decades of experience. "The external validation of working for a company 'on the list' also plays a role in retaining that top talent; and that talent is critical to our ability to grow as a firm," he says. "Our size continues to be a strength in recruiting people who want to work for a firm that is large enough to offer growth opportunities and the resources and support necessary to succeed but not so large that they risk getting 'lost.' " 

Another thing that really makes the workplace tick, McCarty says, "is our uncommon blend of business acumen and deep technology expertise. Many consultancies also struggle with this, with one side or the other ending up feeling less valued," McCarty says. "We believe we've created a winning formula where both consultants and technologists have stature and respect."

What's the top priority over the next 12 months?

McCarty: "Our strategy has not changed: We will continue to build out our local offices, both by bolstering our areas of strength and broadening our industry, functional and technology capabilities within each office. We will look to build a second major hub of technology professionals in Dallas, one of our newer and fastest growing offices, as part of our plan to triple our workforce there over the next five years. Another priority is increasing our attention and effort toward making strategic acquisitions. We will be looking for organizations that provide a strong fit from both a talent and cultural perspective, particularly in our larger markets and in key technology disciplines such as cybersecurity."