Partner 🐡: How much of the work related stuff posted in here provides you meaningful insight vs. comes across as unfounded griping?

Very helpful for me to understand what motivates some people and what bothers them. I'm a true believer that everyone has been gifted and it's our mutual responsibility to explore how we fit together to excel. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but I like to understand people before believing it's their fault something isn't working. As a long time and senior partner of the firm, these forums provide me with authentic feedback to help me be a better leader. I would rather hear your truth than your platitudes and I would hope you'd feel the same way.

I know there aren't a lot of senior partners on this forum but I'm not typical either. The fact that I had awareness and joined this forum demonstrates the diversity at the partner level as well. What I need is folks on this forum to be brave enough to stand behind your convictions and help people like me improve our firm. I can't do it without your support and I would welcome more people into these spaces to tell me what you think we need to do differently. Be honest and courageous.

Let's get some transparency like salary band for each level, average salary by level, median salary by level, margin % by practice, etc. Blows my mind that I can't even receive salary band information to know what my earning potential is.

No firm is perfect. We appreciate the honest feedback and the constructive criticism but the whining is a bit much. I've worked in industry and consulting, and despite the challenges in the big4, I can't say working in industry is any better and in most cases can be a lot worse.

Not sure its whining P1. I'm sure there are partners who are clear, transparent and interested and who care; care as in care about other than work . Many are only interested in their own $$ growth and not in the people they deal with. Even if you get the .. "oh no no no no no, I am right here with you to back you and your team up" line when instead it means "no no, I'm here and watch what you do and I'll take all the credit for your idea and success when it suits me and leave your sorry ass as the scapegoat for all that went wrong; and if that deal is audited you can figure things out for yourself". Fake and behind the back, waiting with a knife. .

No real support. Real support would be (in a partner territorial fight" to hear "let me coach you through this a difficult xlos triangle power fight and then let's work together to get you to somewhere where your strengths are needed and valued". Or instead of "I am so sorry for the loss of your mother, and 1) let's see how we can have you work remotely while at the funeral - the church has wifi, right? or 2) I'm sure it must be difficult to not go to the funeral since you have a client meeting " (when you just requested a couple of days to go to the funeral and asked for air cover when substituting yourself with someone else temporarily, during a flat part of the project, to run point for issues/meetings (while burying ones mother ). Would have been nice for once to hear "so sorry for your loss, go be with your family in this difficult time, I'll make sure we keep things together ". And in both scenarios, very real, the person's "lack of dedication to firm business" was a reason to knock them down in pay/bonus discussions at the year end in an otherwise stellar year and when EVEN the noted projects exceeded client and firm expectations.

Or here's another "I'm sorry you're in the hospital with (insert critical condition/near death circumstances here)". I'd be happy to help. If there's someone who can get your laptop from your place, I'll make sure you get it, so you can continue working - wouldn't want your utilization to drop. ". These are real examples of partner comments in response to real circumstances. And multiple partners. No exaggeration.

It's flipping ridiculous and in my previous long tenure in corporate industry nothing like this ever happened.

^Very good advice to work for people who love what they do. I took big risks this year saying 'no' to working for a partner who tolerated sexual harrassment (well documented) on his accounts. HR also did nothing to address the issue once escalated. It paid off, and I now have many new partner relationships. Pick your practice and colleagues wisely, and be prepared to leave if you are ever compelled to compromise ethics for a client relationship.

Amen and good for you! That's conviction and I am do proud of you for doing something about it.

When the narcissistic shady people are the ones with higher ranks and abusing their position of power, it does not allow opportunity for your seniors to pick and choose the partners and Sr mgrs for engagements. This is not my reality you speak of and lord knows I tried to get myself out of toxic situations away from toxic mgmt people. I'd start with cleaning house in PAS... don't know how some get away with such unprofessional, rude behavior. If they had behaved as what I'd observed at any of my client sites, they'd be fired on the spot.

I'm sorry EY11, that's awful and exactly what I'm talking about. If any partners read these threads, and care, it would be good for them to share these concerns amongst their brethren. As lowly non-partners, were simply guaranteed bad reviews without checks and balances, unless we jump to their every wish. However twisted or against policy, or simply bad practice. Supposedly, partners run "their own share of the business" and as such are invincible against any repercussions. Sickening. Makes it tough to get out of bed, which I do because I want to do right by our clients. And even that is thwarted often enough when told to bill what isn't there to bill.

Back to the original intent of this thread, which was attracting engaged PPEDs in this form into lively discussion ☺
Medusa...
What additional recommendations do you have for navigating the imperfections at EY? Avoiding bad apples in leadership is one. Great. How about knowing how to raise real, legitimate behavioral concerns without being retaliated against... or muddling through our very subjective review process? We are all ears.

Navigating issues without retaliation. Well I'm not going to pretend it doesn't happen because every company has bad apples. We have to find the right person to take the issue to. Someone who won't be afraid to address it. There are some people at EY that I would go to when I have concerns and yes we partners encounter bad situations as well. First I go to my regional leader who is a class act. Then I would go to the Americas quality leader (especially if it impacts clients). And if it's really bad, call the ethics hotline. It's independent from the firm and staffed by an outside agency that is obligated to investigate anything unethical or illegal.

Sorry one more point on navigating the review process. If the behavior is crossing the line into hostility or harassment, take it to HR and if your local HR contact dismisses it, keep going up the chain. Make sure you have your ducks in a row if you are raising an issue. Do it professionally and formally. Don't rely on just telling someone. If you want it taken seriously, treat it as a serious issue. Every company struggles with people who have behavioral issues for one reason or another and it may even be a case of a mental health issue which is highly stigmatized in our society. The person who seems like a bad apple may actually need help.

EY1 thanks for your thoughts. You are courageous to share on here. I have debated formally contacting HR and have notified my region subscribers service line leader of some of the unprofessional behavior. I actually think this bad apple does have mental health issues as bad apple's mood swings strongly affect consistency of judgement and treatment of others. It is a long term project and I have endured it for a while with a long time (6 months +) left to go.

EY1 - Margin pressures seem to be getting worse. How is the consulting model, including Partner pensions, sustainable with so many competing lower cost providers of services. I am referring mostly to Advisory but it probably touches other service lines.

That's a great question and maybe it's not. There will always be a need for consulting and advice for short term projects and transformations but the current operating model may not be the best way to organize the company. The business model will always be there because companies either lack capacity or capability to do everything themselves. Operating models do change and we look at ours all the time to determine whether it still delivers value. There are for profit models out there that do well and others that don't. I think that what really matters are the platforms, the value propositions and the quality of the people.

It is my observation that our internal regional structure causes delays in decision making and stifles innovation. I avoid internal projects like the plague.

We need real incentives for knowledge sharing. So much of our efficiency and delivery quality depends upon having re-usable templates and examples. SMs understandably hoard their materials to protect themselves from competition running with their ideas. There is a clear disincentive now for knowledge sharing unless people are rewarded for more than sales contributions.

EY1, start with getting rid of useless PAS. The one assigned to my group has very little knowledge, spiteful manner for no reason, and too inexperienced. They are added overhead cost eating into profit and causing disenchantment among your hard, diligent workers. They do nothing when concerns are raised... they instead work with the bad apples at top or those trying to get to the top to work against the confident and courageous workforce that bring issues to their attention to resolve conflict. PAS, in my experience, they are a big portion of the problem. My contact was an unprofessional mean girl who is too old to behave as such.

EY11 - I agree many PAS change management people have very little business or functional knowledge. Those who do are highly sought after. Change management is an important enabling competency that is still needed.

In summary, it will look more like temp agencies with freelancers! Not sure how folks feel about that but there would be significantly more freedom and control over personal choices. A direction the entire world is heading...thats what greater access and exposure to information breeds.

I think It's disappointing to all of us if we were truly honest. The reality is we didn't do well enough. We can look at it and say it was because of a soft market or we can admit we need to be better. We need to be better. To me it's that simple and while I am proud of my team and my peers and my friends, there are people I cannot honestly say I am proud of.

Damn EY1, you the man