Pros
The biggest and the greatest thing about EY is the brand (Still surprised why this is so). Get it on your resume and see the magic! Access to a lot of expensive information (like Thomson research, D&B reports, Onesource etc.) is available free to all employees due to a firmwide access right. Working mothers, even those expecting have some very supportive policies to make it easy for them. Some offices even have a creche to leave their kids while they work in the same building.
Cons
1. If you got in for the brand and didnt care about the salary - be prepared to be unhappy for a long time. Promotions happen once a year and you cant really expect much out of it. Very poor pay masters - and sometime even tell you that the difference from you pay and the industry standard is compensated by the 'brand name'. 2. Promotions and progressions are still in the age of King Arthur - Literally!!! For example - for an individual to be promoted - his performance is discussed in something called a 'round table'. The round table consists of all managers and above in that business group - irrespective of whether they manage you or not. As much as this sounds like a fair idea - it ends up being a fight each time where your manager is aruguing your case - and everyone else is trying to pull you down (however unrelated to your work they may be) as they have their own staff to be pushed for. I just dont see why an unrelated person must have a say in your performance just because he is a 'manager'. As detailed as the annual goals and individual BSC documents get - it is only second priority in the round table. More attention is given to 'behaviour', 'respecting seniors', 'how rebellious one is'. Your promotion is completely subjective - and highly dependent on how many members of the 'round table' have you in their good books. 3. 'Policies' are something EY loves to have around every little thing - and one would think it would be all employee friendly given how much the propaganda the 'People First work culture' gets. It is anything but that. The policy document itself is written in a "you and we" format that is so childish. (E.g - If you do this - we will deduct x amount). I am still wondering who is "you" and "we". Also - every single "policy" is nothing but a brilliant CYA strategy. (For e.g - the separation policy will say - You cannot encash your remaining annual leaves but may adjust them against your notice period - with management discretion. And the management will conveniently say its business critical for you stay the whole 2 months! You end up loosing your leaves, and stay the whole two months - and may even end up loosing the new job as they might not want to wait 2 months!) 4. The salary is a far cry from the industry benchmark. During appraisal discussion, you will probably be told that they only pay a certain percentage of the benchmark as they "EY Brand' will compensate for the rest!! 5. There are way too many partners, leaders and managers around for a focused leadership to work. Imagine there is a whole bandwagon of CXO level people (CEO, COO, CFO, CTO etc.) for Global, then a set for each service line at Global level - and that replicates at Area, sub-area and country level. There is no culture of walking up to anyone above you and talking directly. You will be asked to speak with your immediate boss who will do the required message exchange with higher levels. The other complexity to this - the reporting lines get seriously hazy as you go up the chain - and no one wants to show who reports to whom. 6. If you are from a corporate environment and hoping it will be the same here - be prepared for a lot of surprises. Its very 'firm-like' and if you do not like hierarchy, bureaucracy etc - this aint the place. 7. Employees are pushed at 100% billable work throughout (Sometimes out of fear that the latter half of the year might not have enough work). And over and above this, you have learning targets, a huge deal of administrative chores, meetings and useless forums to attend. Work life balance is not quite what exists at EY. 8. EY is anything but Global. Each office has its own way of managing things with local policies and procedures - including technology and infrastructure! Local partners will make the rules and everything works locally. As much as the 'mobility' and 'exchange programs' are popularized - it is not easy at all for you to find another job within EY and simply move.