Vault’s Verdict

L.E.K.’s operations in Asia are defined by an unpretentious and collegial environment, complemented by a diverse range of challenging strategy and M&A projects. Both of which contribute to a culture where insiders are given both the opportunity and the support to make rapid career progress.

While consultants at the firm face the typical consulting challenges of long hours and intense workloads, insiders note that a generous PTO program is not just for show: consultants are encouraged to take vacations, and the firm makes significant efforts to both grant and respect time off. While the firm has been buffeted by the same economic headwinds as most of its competitors, the prevailing sense among insiders is that L.E.K. has navigated the situation well to date—and is expected to continue to do so.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “A dynamic work setting conducive to rapid learning and growth.”
• “Culture is one of the great things that sets us apart from the competition. Moreover, as we have an intensive hiring process, the people here are also very helpful and great at whatever they do.”
• “Expertise in education sector globally. The global perspective is a strong competitive advantage and difficult for competitors to replicate.”
• “L.E.K. has a fantastic culture and a great mix of shorter strategy and transaction focused projects.”
• “Very academic and solid company, prefer a more scientific and structured mind.”

Quality of Life

• “Best - absolutely don’t care how much you work from home or are in the office. Easy to take unpaid leave for a big chunk of time if you need.
  
  Worst - The hours are pretty unrelenting. It can be much better than what else is out there in consulting (or so I have heard).”
• “L.E.K.’s teams work hard - really committed to doing a great job for each other and for the client: it’s a great client-centric culture. Travel tends to be less than other firms; some specific projects, but the expectation is not 4/5 days per week on client site.”
• “The company culture is good but opportunities like travel/swap programs are only accessible to certain offices.”
• “Really great emphasis on sustainability in the Australian offices. I think it’s the best it can be given the nature of the job. Greater leadership as well. Could get more exposure to clients.”
• “Working across regions may result in longer working hours to accommodate different time zones.”

Career Development

• “Among our firm’s most commendable attributes are the rapid learning curve, the culture of accountability and ownership. The less favorable aspect relates to the limited travel opportunities.”
• “Fantastic largely meritocratic promotion, opportunities room for improvement in diversity and inclusion.”
• “L.E.K.’s faster pathway to team leadership had an outsized impact on my development.”
• “Promotion does occur and is generally given to the right people.”
• “Very fast promotion trajectory, with formal training opportunities at every level.”

Compensation

• “Bonuses are not always given depending on the financial situation.”
• “Good base, plus bonus, and profit share which is lower in bad economic years.”
• “Profit share- best and worst, great in good years, very bad in down years. I think we are paid well pretty much at the market, so not much to complain about. But very hard to ignore promoters offering you more money at the senior levels, so could improve there.
• “Salaries are in the 90th percentile.”
• “Work too many hours for the pay.”

Community Engagement

• “Company is incredibly inclusive and I have always felt safe and respected here as an ethnic person.”
• “DE&I is a very big and visible theme with clear leadership attention in recent years.”
• “Not many women at the senior levels but junior levels have good representation of women. Some of our best associates are women.”
• “Representation and culture are great.”
• “Work very hard to promote diversity in ethnicity (we have a working group and lots of events). The diversity of people across ethnicity is very good at junior levels, and very few at senior levels. I think consultants at the firm have access to promotion opportunities, but there is probably a level of unconscious bias given so many of the leadership is middle-aged white men.”

Business Outlook

• “Consulting industry generally challenged, however L.E.K. seems in no worse position than competitors.”
• “Growth strategy and M&A are key services lines that clients have trimmed.”
• “Macroeconomic environment isn’t great but firm is small and nimble enough to come back quickly.”
• “Same as the rest of the industry: it depends on the world’s economy, with a global slowdown affecting the number of projects we run, but our heavy focus on healthcare mitigates this impact.”
• “We are heavily tied to the PE industry, and are unable to build our skillset, capabilities, and revenue outside of this.”

Hiring Process

• “A very positive experience. The interview process was well organized, non-confrontational and efficient.”
• “Cultural fit is very important.”
• “Ideal candidate: High achieving, open to learning, inquisitive, curious.”
• “The firm recruits from top B schools and looks for candidates that fit the culture and business needs.”
• “Very quick turnaround, ideal candidate is a hardworking, driven, self-motivated individual.”

Interview Questions

• “Case interviews; very quantitative.”
• “Generally a mix of market sizing / quant and highly strategic. Can be some knowledge-based questions if making experienced hires in specific industry verticals or service line areas.”
• “Interviews have 3 elements: 1) strategy interview; 2) quant case study; and 3) organizational fit.”
• “Using some exhibits: ‘how many nights are spent by tourists in Australia’s snow mountains?’.”
• “Why should we hire you over the previous candidate that just walked out of this room?”