The 2020 Best Firms to Work For: West Monroe

Client Industries Served: Consumer & Industrial Products, Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Healthcare & Life Sciences, High-tech & Software, Private Equity, Retail

Consulting Service Lines: Strategy, Operations Management, IT

West Monroe's people-first mentality and ability to rapidly pivot were two keys to the firm's success in navigating the current global crisis. Even in normal times West Monroe (formerly West Monroe Partners) strives to create opportunities for its people to grow, and makes a concerted effort to ensure employees feel fulfilled in their work.

This commitment to prioritizing its employees has helped the firm secure its ninth appearance in a row on the Best Firms to Work For list, and its fourth consecutive time ranked in the Top 5.

Asked what the continued recognition has meant for the Chicago-headquartered firm, and CEO Kevin McCarty says it helps the firm raise its profile in a market frequently dominated by the Big Four or global giants with decades in business under their belts.

"It is not hard to start a consulting firm, but it is hard to become a world-class consulting firm – and become recognized as such. As an organization without the scale and tenure of the global firms, this type of recognition is very valuable, particularly in the war for talent," says McCarty.

The pandemic was a time the firm really had to put its money where its mouth is in terms of calling itself "people-first" — and by all measures the firm passed the test with flying colors.

"As stewards of our community of employees, we feel we have an imperative to support our employees no matter what is happening in the world. Right now that includes adapting to remote working, caretaking responsibilities, racial equity, social distancing, need for time off work to cope with personal matters during this pandemic, and more," McCarty says.

Looking out over the next 6-12 months, with much uncertainty still undoubtedly ahead, McCarty says the firm will continue to support the development and evolution of its hybrid model, giving employees the option to return to the office only when they feel safe to do so. One of the goals, he notes, is to create a kind of firm culture where people actually want to be in the office.

"I also think that the consulting model will adapt to this hybrid way of working. There is a lot of value in being in the client's office—you experience their culture, you overhear and uncover issues that may not be apparent on a Zoom call, and the client has the opportunity to observe your process. There is also a tremendous benefit for more junior consultants to have the opportunity to observe their leaders on site. But I imagine we will reset expectations on what it means to be on-premise, just as we did when the industry moved from five days a week on site to four," McCarty says.

Consulting: When you look at the remainder of this year and 2021, what excites you? What opportunities do you see in your markets?  

McCarty: Well, if 2020 has taught us anything, it's that predicting the future can be futile. Many businesses acted quickly in response to the immediate crisis of the pandemic, and now it is time for them to chart their steps so they can thrive in the long run. We remain excited about opportunities that we have to help clients address issues central to this transformation, including digitizing business models and operations, better understanding their data and leveraging new technologies like AI, protecting their businesses through proactive cybersecurity strategies, and optimizing their workforces to accomplish more with the same or fewer resources.