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How do MBB/T2/big 4 firms compare on non salary benefits ? Key data points I personally find important are:
- Transport support (season tickets etc)
- housing subsidy
- private healthcare/ dentists
- food
- office facilities (gym/shower/sleeping pods)
McKinsey & Company L.E.K. Consulting Oliver Wyman Bain & Company Boston Consulting Group PwC Kearney etc
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Hi All, I recently found a helpful way to earn some extra money without putting in too much effort. Focus groups are a great side hustle to do in your free time. I’ve been using L&E Research to find and apply to new studies. Hope this helps! Here’s a link to the site: https://participant.facilitymanagerplus.com/ParticipantSignup.aspx?ref=c5b6054e-3605-4b42-b312-d927c6c8d8b1&s=4
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I'm a father with two beautiful kids. My only advice is that your children will only be adorable and precious for a short while, enjoy this time, make memories with them. You can work till your 65, but your kids will outgrow you at some point and you won't get that time back.
I’m not crying you are
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Woman partner here. I find it a bit funny you’re directing your question to men. :)
I took 5 months off - maternity leave and vacation and then did not travel for a year. I made partner 2 years after I had my baby at 34. Also have no family nearby. We did a variety of things over the years - daycare, nanny, working from home; just had to adjust throughout.
Personally being a stay at home mom was never appealing to me, which was further reinforced by my maternity leave. Once I recognized that, I started shifting my energy on creating a balance environment minimizing my travel in the short term.
Here’s my suggestion. You don’t need to make a decision right now. All families and babies are different. You don’t really know what to expect or how things will play out. Have the baby. Take maternity leave and see how things go. Then make a decision on whether to extend or come back or do something else entirely.
Congratulations and good luck!
P1, how did you get away with no travel for a year? Are you in a large market with many local clients?
Having children is terrible for your career. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. However, and this is a big however, that shouldn’t be a reason to not have them or to stop working. You can have career success and a family at the same time, that combination just looks different for every family. I had 4 kids and I’m up for partner this year. Does my career look like anyone else’s? Probably not. Was I able to do both? Yes. You will find your way, a plan that works for you. And that plan will change as you move along both in your career and in your family life. Roll with the punches, and realize you are stronger than anyone knows. I was not one who enjoyed being a stay at home mom, but if you think you would like that and have the means to do so, go for it. But understand that it will set you back in your career (which may be something you are ok with). Good luck and congrats!
Don’t stay at home - even if you don’t do your best the next few years, kids grow and you will be back at full speed sooner than you think, if you take a few years off - it gets very hard to get back to where you were...
I wish that was true but reality is different ...
I gave birth last year and took 6 months maternity leave and came back to work recently at 80% (4 days a week). However I have my family nearby and my husband is a stay at home dad, so the situation is somewhat different.
A key question for you to consider is: who would you trust to look after your child when you go back to work?
If you plan to go back quite soon after giving birth, would you plan for the baby to go to a daycare centre or do you plan to get a nanny/ au pair? Especially now given that the COVID situation will likely persist for the rest of this year, it will not be that easy to find external help. You may also feel guilty over missing all the important milestones in the baby’s first few years.
On the flip side if you take significant time off, (eg 2-4 years); it may be harder to get back into the flow of things but not if you also proactively keep up your networks and read up on what’s happening in your industry. Alternatively you might want to try a different industry or job when you come back because you prefer greater flexibility. Either way works , you just need to decide which trade-offs are worth the effort.
Good luck mama!