The 2020 Best Firms to Work For: SEI

Consulting Service Lines: Concept to Delivery, Data & Analytics, Strategy & Operations, Technology Enablement, Information Security

With 315 billable consultants on its roster, Cincinnati, Ohio-based SEI is one of our smaller Best Firms to Work For. Previously, the firm made an impressive eight-year run as one of our Best Small Firms to Work For before making the leap to the Best Firms list in 2019 at #3. This year sees it jump a place to #2.

This decade of recognition in the pages of Consulting magazine has helped SEI in some of its most important firm goals, says CEO Bill Gallagher.

"No doubt about it – being Best Firm to Work For, coming from a prestigious source, is helping us win a big war the entire consulting industry is engaged in – the war for talent.  Every single prospective employee I've ever talked to (and I talk to then all) mentions it and tells us it was a major influence in talking to us and then in their final decision to join us. And being Best Firm year after year affirms for them that it is not just an 'initiative' but a sincere, sustained commitment and a fundamental business model."

Even as challenging years go, 2020 was one for the books. To make it through these unprecedented times, firms had to be very well attuned to the needs of its workforce to keep up engagement and worker satisfaction, and of course employee health and safety.

"Like everybody else, the pandemic forced us to think of other new things we could do to support our employees isolated from one another and dealing with brand-new work-from-home challenges.  We made a big point of proactively determining what individual employees needed – whether it was more technical support, or more guidance on virtual consulting effectiveness, or relief for pressing family issues, or just a listening ear – and then finding the resources to support their specific needs," Gallagher says.

Through it all, Gallagher says, the firm has demonstrated its resilience.

"Our morale is high despite the challenges of working from home, the emotional tolls social injustice has had on our country and company, as well as the financial impacts of an economic recession.  We are a communal company where solidarity and sociability are very high."

How the next 6-12 months plays out is far from certain, but Gallagher says his firm is preparing to take on whatever challenges lie ahead with the same enthusiasm they've always had in difficult times.

"We will keep adapting to the new business environment, however it unfolds. And we will keep focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion while we keep our culture strong so that we all continue to grow and prosper."

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

Gallagher: "Our ownership model and ownership mentality of every employee is key to our success and unlike any other model I have seen.   We do not operate a traditional ESOP, but rather an ownership model that includes economic value through quarterly dividends and unit price appreciation, but also voting rights for the board of directors in each local office."