The 2019 Best Firms to Work For: AlixPartners

Freakley says the firm measures employee engagement annually through its internal Pulse Survey and this year, over 90 percent of respondents agree or strongly agree they are proud to work at AlixPartners. In addition, 85 percent said the firm has a 'family feeling' and indicated they have trust in their colleagues. 

"We believe this is due to the purposeful work we have been doing to build a supportive and inclusive culture and our successes in the important work that we do every day for our clients," Freakley says. "People are also excited to be part of a firm experiencing strong and sustained growth."

Freakley says he and his colleagues are seeing disruption of industries at a greater pace than ever before. The disruption cycles that are happening in industries like retail, automotive, oil & gas, for example, are far more profound and more regular than traditional economic cycles. 

"While the latter ones are relevant to us for our overall business planning, making sure we are well prepared to support our clients as they go through a disruptive cycle is key to the future growth of our business—and of our clients' businesses," he says. "The relentless pace of change hastens the need to take meaningful transformative steps, both in anticipation of and in response to disruption—this is what we call 'Accelerated Transformation.' At AlixPartners, we are squarely focused on assessing the situation and implementing results quickly and efficiently, to seize those opportunities both for our clients and for our firm."

As for any specific programs or initiatives that may have contributed to the firm's success, Freakley says he is proud of the strides AlixPartners has made "toward a more diverse and inclusive workplace, and we will continue to enhance its initiatives and programs that promote the acceptance and inclusion of all colleagues."

Those efforts have been recognized two years in a row by the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index as a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality.

Freakley says it is in the firm's DNA to adopt an action-oriented, results-driven approach. 

"Through our assessment, which is taken by everyone who is hired by the firm, we identify the types of people who thrive under pressure and excel in the types of high-stakes, critical, complex, and often urgent work that we do," he says. "And so, we are different in how we work with clients: We move quickly from analysis, to implementation, to results. We identify the cause of the problem, make the plan to address it, and then we roll up our sleeves and partner with our clients to get the job done."

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

Freakley: We firmly believe that the quality of our people directly drives our effectiveness with clients and our success as a firm. We strive to be a strong, vibrant, perpetuating firm that is the recognized gold standard in solving difficult challenges. Our goal is to be the firm that everyone wants to work for because it offers a respectful and inclusive environment, the most interesting and challenging work, and excellent developmental opportunities.