PwC reviews

Inconsistent leadership can be a struggle. The performance review process is hit or miss. As with most places - the best reasons have a flip side to the coin. Since relationships are such a big part of the job, building good relationships with the right people can do wonders for your career regardless of your real performance in your day to day tasks. This can be challenging for people that do great work but don't relish the art of blowing one's own horn or kissing a lot of you know what to get ahead. This does not appear to be the rule, but happens enough that it remains a rather obvious fact of life.

Expect long hours with below average compensation. There is no 401k matching, slightly below average medical coverage and RBAP is a joke considering the majority of employees are burnt out and leave by their 2nd and 3rd years. Being more capable than your peers results in much longer hours & pressure with minimal compensation increases. I worked a couple hundred more overtime hours than my peers and was highly favored by my management, but only received a standard pay increase and roughly $1k more in bonuses than my peers. The firm advertises "Work-Life Balance" and "Partners That Care" very aggressively to its staff, but it is far from the truth. All work-life balance initiatives always have a caveat of "unless there's a business need." Unfortunately, there is ALWAYS a business need to work longer hours, fly home on Friday evening (instead of Thursday) or not attend "fun" or "community service" days. As for partners, employees are nothing more than a number- they do not want high turnover rates in their practice as it affects their bonuses and add costs to train a new employee. As long as you do not affect sales, all staff can be considered highly replaceable- if you quit, there will be hundreds of other people just as capable waiting to get a chance to get into the firm. Thus, it's very understandable that partners do not care about their staff.