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I was in the final stages of an interview with Microsoft two weeks ago, in partner marketing. Then the recruiter told me they were putting the hiring process on hold to assess the need for the role. Well, then we heard about Microsoft layoffs last week. Seems like most were in Xbox and Project Alpha but there’s not a lot of information out there. Should I hold out any hope that I’m going to get this job? Any insights on how much these layoffs have impacted the marketing org and/or new hiring?
I want to build my career in analytics. I have offer from EY India, EXL and LatentView Analytics.
EY is more on the side of project management and process improvement in SaaS, as told. While there is hands-on in other two.
If I don't consider pay, which company is the best to go for considering work and culture(peope friendly).
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Tell us how much you expect any given task to yield in billable hours. I know it’s crude but I have cut my own hours many times just because I have NO earthly idea how long something should take and don’t want to look dumb.
This.
GIVE US THE WORK. Simple as that. Put us on cases as soon as they come through the door and stop doing everything yourself. If we’re not hitting the billing requirements, there’s a work flow problem at the top. I assure you that not hitting the requirement stresses us out more than it does you, because we’re constantly afraid of getting fired but we have no control over our own work flow. Also, be sure not to criticize the amount of time we bill on projects until we are consistently hitting the requirement. If we don’t have enough work, we’re sitting there re-working, overthinking and perfecting everything because we have nothing else to do and we don’t want to sit around twiddling our thumbs. Believe it or not, we actually want to work, we want to stay busy. And for the love of god, us *asking* for work may produce a little project here or there, but it does not develop consistent work flow. That is NOT a solution.
QUEEN*
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If their hours are low, give them more work to do rather than expecting them to fabricate billables themselves.
100% this. Most people working at such firms are willing to work; they can’t create hours that don’t exist. If there is so much work to go around, who is doing it in lieu of them??
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I’m an associate that struggles to bill enough (35 hours this week, 34 the week before, though 51 the week before that, 45 the week before that). In my case it’s due to lack of a continuous flow of billable work rather than lack of motivation. The reason does matter. In my case I just keep an open line of communication about my workload with my supervising partner and he has laid out clear guidelines for how I should maximize my time spent to get the best outcome for the client and also told me what parameters he’d like me to hit.
If your associates have work and are just slacking or not committed to working the amount of hours necessary to meet their goals that’s obviously an issue and they should understand that it’s on them to improve. If they have work to do to let them bill the required amount and just aren’t doing it then instead of a general discussion I would suggest setting clear expectations and minimum/desired thresholds to hit. That way it’s clear to them whether or not they’re meeting expectations.
If they aren’t given enough work to bill the proper amount, or the work they’re getting is sporadic and they have large gaps or downtime throughout the day that’s obviously not their fault. If this latter option is the case it’s on you to make sure they have consistent work to do.
AA4 is absolutely right; I have a child with no place to go all day and I have to supervise /tutor online school on top of regular parenting while WFH - it is not only exhausting but also seemingly invisible to partners who don't have or don't acknowledge the exponentially increased stresses and impact on work due to the current abnormal conditions.
Rising Star
Do they have enough work? I just left a similar firm with a similar billable requirement because after almost 2 years, I never had enough work to bill a full workweek despite regularly asking for more. I kept being told more work was coming and it never did.
While I agree all the above are reasonable solutions; I think you need to first understand why their billable are low. Is it because of COVID related issues? Are they finding the work mentally draining? Etc. Only then can you have an honest discussion about how to fix the problem. That said- do you know why their billable are so low?
An 1800 hour billing requirement, in my opinion, is inhuman and forces associates to either unethically overcharge, or be horribly overworked. Our requirement is “get the work done”.
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1800 is pretty standard. I’m at 2000 now. I find that to be pretty manageable. 1800 would be a breeze if the work is there.
Knowing exactly what I’m not doing and suggestions, with examples to fix what partner found not good. File reviews when no guessing required, who needs to do what and what we can bill or what not to do. Balancing assignments so windshield to windshield time can be leveraged by associates for billing.
Tell them that billing for the work is just as important as doing it. Yeah I know it sounds simple, but it works.
^this is true. Billable hours = paying salary, bonuses, paying bills and to keep firm going. This memo I got and oh after some table pounding and “WTF do you think I’m saying.”lol I got that message early on though. No complains.
If you suspect they may be self cutting or not fully capturing time model the right behavior for them. Tell them what you do to track and enter your time. Show them your entries so they see what you are billing for and how to word things.
Tell them directly "you should bill this time" after you have a 15 min impromptu case discussion or whatever. I was constantly having partners poke their heads in to bend me ear on their motion strategy or argument for 15-20 min and I never knew if I was good to bill for that time or if they'd be annoyed to see that entry on their prebill.
Don't show them your own discomfort with billing the client (i.e. don't send mixed messages). Be vocal about the fact that they have a lower rate because it's expected they will be slower (it's still more cost effective to have an associate take 4 hours to do something than for a partner to do it theirself in 2 hours).
Biggest thing for me was realizing that the firm can't charge any time I don't bill. Partners can easily cut time, but ethically they can never add time when you've undercut yourself.
This man.
Wow this tread is turning into a training course that all firms should use.
In isolation, passively and contemporaneously capturing time spent reading, reviewing, responding and composing client related email communications on your mobile (iPhone or iPad) email app may not seem significant, but collectively it adds anywhere from 3-10% of additional billable activity at a matter level.
If this is in litigation, it’s been hard to bill because trials have been pushed out to 2022 or 2023. It’s hard to get motivated when you don’t have a looming deadline. Maybe you can give specific assignments and projects with shorter deadlines to help boost productivity. I work much better under a deadline.
I really do appreciate everyone’s thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc... There is some good stuff in here and some food for thought. Generally speaking, I think the associates in mind have the work, but I do think there is some COVID related issues that are playing a part in them falling short.
Great thoughts above A3.
“Give us the work.” “But not in the evening. Or on a rush basis. Or if a vacation is upcoming. Or if it isn’t what we want to do. Or if we, our dog, our SO, or whoever is sick. Or if we already have 8 hours that day. We set boundaries. But also don’t not give us work.”
I post this not to encourage toxic / hellish workflows, and not all that seriously. I post it because in the real world, client demands are fast, furious, irregular, and not always exactly what someone wants to do, conveniently packaged up in a nice 37.5-hour workweek that is fulfilling and the optimum training progression.
A3, that makes sense. Partners at my firm don’t do that (our comp system doesn’t create those incentives, and that is both a terrible way to treat people and counterproductive for various reasons in the longer run). If that was the primary reason, that is a legit gripe.
I think, though, based on my experience and those of a lot of people at peer firms I have spoken to, that the issue I mentioned is significant as well, and in many cases (especially at firms with very high rates), it is not partners hoarding work and then throwing it out there last minute. I know it isn’t in my case. If anything, I feel better as a partner who loads people up with as much notice as I can and enough leeway on timing as I can, and who reviews associate work promptly.
Despite that, there *still* are ridiculous demands from clients and internal deal teams (mostly driven by clients and them feeling emboldened to ask for more since if my firm won’t do it, another will), leading to hellish times and much inconvenience, and there still are some dry spells for some people, especially those who can’t do as much.
I think it depends on whether these associates are new, or if they’ve previously met billable hour expectations but are falling behind now.
Having a solid suite of digital toolkits to automate *some* workflows and to passively capture time is becoming an essential ingredient for time entry hygiene.
How long have they been with the firm?
Most associates fail to track all of the time they spend on work. It is so easy to miss the short emails, brief phone calls, and admin time spent talking with the partner about a case for 10 minutes. You can lose 1-2 hours a day with the little stuff.