Vault’s Verdict

For consultants at GE Healthcare, operating within a unit of an enormous multinational conglomerate comes with serious benefits in the form of a high degree of financial stability, coupled with good resume radiance. However, there are also a couple of associated drawbacks—namely having to work that much harder to stand out in the consulting realm, as well as the kinds of internal politics that come with operating as part of such a large concern.

For those who can figure out how to navigate the GE environment, however, a career within the company offers the opportunity to work on some interesting projects, as well as the ability to make a lateral move within the wider organization—an exit opportunity that comes as a serious perk. Most other aspects of life, from compensation to quality of life, seem to meet with consensus approval from insiders, making the choice for a potential hire mostly about cultural fit. Which means it’s really up to you!

Firm Culture

• “Best company to work for in healthcare consulting.”
• “Consultancy is a demanding business, but there are many opportunities to develop and progress within GE Healthcare Partners for those with the right mindset.”
• “Innovative thinking and solutions for patients; great team to work with.”
• “Passionate about delivering great work with clients, and caring colleagues.”
• “The firm requires everyone to have initiative, those that don't quickly fall behind. We are all in it together to find solutions, and everyone can contribute to that effort. Candidates need to be aware that because we are part of a huge conglomerate we don't have autonomy on some of our practices, this is something we just have to accept, even when it can be frustrating. Particularly junior candidates should be very aware of this. Hard work does pay off here, every 6 month panel review gives the chance for promotion. The team is like a family, we are a small team and we tend to know everyone's skills very well- and someone will always help you out. Lastly, we are dedicated to improving our skills, we have an Analytics Training Camp run by one of our senior analysts, plus we have a weekly company call where we spend 30 minutes on a different topic.”
• “We can offer a whole package to healthcare systems to solve their challenges (not just consulting but also equipment and digital innovation) being part of a larger corporation.”

Quality of Life

• “Best Aspect:  In my team we divide out travel time like 3 days and 2 days, so that we have team presence at client side and work-life balance is maintained.”
• “Encouraged to use all the annual leave but can carry five days over to the following year. You are free to take your leave whenever, in any size chunk. Never overwhelmed when coming back from annual leave as colleagues are able to continue the work in your absence.”
• “Firm accommodates all vacation requests, very slim chance of them asking you to reschedule.
  Team always covers for staff on vacation.”
• “Hours are a bit more than usual, but that is the consulting industry. It's easy to get time off from the firm, but proper planning should be due.”
• “The firm is very understanding and respectful of the employees needs in terms vacation days.
  Basically it's not allowed to ask an employee to work in their official vacation period.”
• “Travel requirements pre-Covid-19 were more intense, however this has now reduced significantly.  I can see how this could be more problematic for minorities e.g. new mothers, disabled or those with caregiver status.”

Compensation

• “Basic pay not competitive compared to peer companies ; overall compensation package with housing, benefits etc is good.”
• “Best: Extremely favorable total package compared to Europe salaries.
  Worst: No salary increase despite promotion this year.”
• “Fair salary scales. Worst: partnership bonus doesn't exist as GE is a technically public company.”
• “No education reimbursement for kids at all professional levels.”
• “Think private healthcare is really good and many people can opt to buy or sell annual leave to meet their needs.”

Career Development

• “Best Aspect : Challenging work, work with various clients, travel opportunity, recognition 
  Worst Aspect : We should grow in other domain of consulting like work with government entities apart from healthcare.”
• “Extremely difficult to get nominated for formal training. Leadership do not value it.
  Limited scope of projects, end up working on the same project for years at a time.”
• “GE Healthcare Partners is very diverse and trainings are available for every aspect of the business, focusing more on agile and lean. The promotions are directly linked to the employee's quality of work, effort put internally and externally and proactivity of the employee.”
• “Limited range of engagements to get varied experience on—you can be stuck on the same type of work for months on end, On the positive side a lot of challenges are thrown our way and we get great satisfaction from the learning by doing approach.”
• “Very fast promotion in region.”

Outlook

• “COVID uncertainty and travel restrictions will harm the outlook - but remote working is fine for now but not sure complete travel bans will allow consulting to work well.”
• “Employee morale has been low for some time due to various reasons including being stuck on same projects, issues with behaviours of ex- senior team members, lack of transparency from HR (e.g on gender pay inequality). Due to the consultancy business being part of the bigger General Electric, the problems with Aviation industry affect all areas and have caused alarm about the companies future.”
• “This firm is on the forefront of data analytics and predictive analytics.”
• “Very innovative solutions post COVID-19.”

Hiring Process

• “Consultant needs to solve real client cases.”
• “It takes quite a while.”
• “Self-reliant, able to think critically, confident, self aware.”
• “Very weak follow up. Held back by the bureaucracy of GE.”

Interview Questions

• “Can you give an example of how you have developed a new innovative solution with a client?
  Can you describe how you would set out to understand the performance of a hospital?”
• “Case studies on real client challenges.”
• “Decreasing wait time in an emergency department.”
• “Open-ended problem solving questions.”
• “We assess understanding of the NHS healthcare system, analytical capabilities and teamwork.”