Vault’s Verdict

L.E.K. seems to be flourishing across the APAC region of late, with insiders reporting strong demand for their services—as well as spikes in work hours, which typically serve as an indicator of higher utilization.

Happily, the firm seems to be taking steps to mitigate the worst overloads for its consultants, and is committed to providing a fun, welcoming culture—particularly in its offices, which insiders tell us are once again the hub of activity for many following the pandemic. 

With a good variety of projects, plus excellent formal and informal training, this is a firm that will help consultants to get ahead and equip them with the tools to succeed later in their careers—whether that’s at L.E.K., or one of the many excellent exit opportunities the firm can open the door to.

Firm Culture

“A solid, respectable, well paid consulting firm. Collaborative, and minimal culture of competitiveness. Slightly behind the curve with DEI issues compared to competitors, but investing a lot more in the area as of late.”

“Choose L.E.K if you want to work in an international and flat-culture environment. It is best to have some life science related knowledge as most cases are life science related.”

“L.E.K. has a flat hierarchy where everyone is given the opportunity to express their ideas and be heard. It's client-centered but also people-focused which ensures that our client needs are met without compromising the needs of our people. And although we take our work seriously, our teams and even our most senior leaders know how to lighten up and have some good fun as well.” 

“The early responsibility that the firms provides is unparallel, they make you accountable and owner of your work. This is one of the best qualities of the firm.”

“Your colleagues are your friends. This creates a fun, supportive culture where it is easy to be yourself at work. You don't have to watch your back, and people genuinely want you to succeed.”

Quality of Life

“Best aspect is that the firm is very aware of the difficulties with work/life balance in professional services.

Worst aspect if that they don’t recognise that fundamental shifts in the way we do business are required to actually achieve better work/life balance (e.g., reduced 'business hours' and properly resourcing teams with part-time employees).”

“Flexible working arrangements available for staff (e.g., I work 9-5 hours each day, rather than the base 9-7 arrangement, others take one day off a week or work remotely); firm culture is very strong and supportive, with a lot of opportunities to participate in social events with colleagues; minimal travel requirements unless requested.”

“Best aspect is that you are well compensated for your extra hours and worst is that more often than not you will be working beyond usual hours.”

“Hours can fluctuate between 50 to 65 hours per week. Personally, I'd say my average sits around the low 50 mark, which is standard. The firm and specifically project managers definitely consider ways to make work as sustainable as possible with a calibration meeting on Monday each week. During each meeting, the results of a survey (on work sustainability and learning opportunities) from the following week is analysed and discussed to generate ideas on what might work better for upcoming days/weeks.”

“Working from office/home is the norm, and we rarely are on client site. Culture is fantastic and people are very nice. Everyone wants you to succeed, and there is no putting each other down to get ahead.”

Compensation

“Bonus structure is based on a subjective individual performance assessment rather than on project and firm outcomes.”

“Good progression, and higher than competitors when profit share is included. Absolute pay transparency, and everyone is paid the same for the same title.”

“I feel the compensation for the legal team could be better in India. It’s one aspect they need to do better otherwise we would not be able to attract or retain great talent. The favorite part of my compensation package is my bonus component as it gets credited twice in a year.”

“Much better than MBB and any other firm - but has not been increased in the past 5 years of operations in India.”

“Starting salary at an entry-level is competitive to other major strategy consulting firms, if not higher. Progressive salary is also generous. An improvement that could be made is the consideration of inflation or higher living costs and how that might be considered within existing compensation packages. Apart from that, I have no complaints.”

Career Development

“Best - we promote when ready. People don't need to wait to have spent a certain amount of time in a role.” 

“Clarity over the expectation and the level that you are at compared to the expectation, with fair promotion processes.”

“Compared to my peers, I do believe L.E.K. offers the best training courses, as far as I understand. The management levels really spend efforts on designing and, most importantly, delivering the courses. The trainers did not limit themselves on the materials designed by the global team, they actually extend it to a broader aspect. - and you can see they are doing this because they do believe it is important! As a rookie, I really appreciated it.”

“Monthly training days for all consulting staff to ensure ongoing development; career coaches with specific remit to support development of their coachees; development mindset to all projects (e.g., sharing development goals of each team member at the start of a project).”

“The work done in strategy consulting is so vast and generalist that people can work for years and still be learning new things every day. The amount of knowledge and tools that need to be learned can easily overwhelm an entry-level graduate like myself with no prior consulting experience but at L.E.K., there are formal monthly ‘back-to-the-office-days’ (BTTOD) whereby everyone in the firm comes into the office for a day of seminars on new tools, applications etc. Other training opportunities include occasional learning clinics and lunch & learns which happen just as often.”

Community Engagement

“All people are valued for their work - and there is a strong commitment by the firm to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. I believe that people have access to equal opportunities and are awarded on the basis of merit.”

“Good focus on this, with FTEs allocated to diversity-specific roles. ERGs across groups and equality among people at the same level. Strong work to encourage more women to the firm.”

“L.E.K. recognises that it has a problem with diversity, particularly amongst the senior levels of the firm. However, there isn't much action or investment to change the attraction / recruitment processes to really broaden the way we think about talent. As an example, the firm still wants to hire the 'top talent' and so only focuses recruitment on elite universities. This means we then have a narrow talent pool with a fairly homogeneous group of candidates to choose from.”

“The firm has put several initiatives in place to support women working at the firm, including speaker series and conversations about gender diversity in the workplace, parental leave policies supportive of men and women taking leave, work from home / flexible place arrangements, and others. There are challenges with retention of women at the senior level still, though.”

“The firm is strong in diversity with internal societies such as Pride@LEK and Mosaic@LEK. The first is the company's resource group for LGBTQ+ individuals and allies whilst the latter is a group for people who identify as racial, ethnic, and cultural minorities. Both host fun and educational events throughout the year.”

Business Outlook

“Growing sectors in transport - new mobility, major capital projects advisory, 

Employee morale is high and people are returning to working in the office (mostly full office with young culture).”

“High employee morale, with notably increased retention. Good business outlook, and strong leadership that is very responsive to employee concerns, and the broader economic environment. Business has not slowed down despite recent economic turbulence.”

“Periods where new work or projects are slow to come in. However, that happened a lot earlier in the year only for a brief period and currently, the rate of new work and projects is significantly higher.” 

“Strengths in competition: good brand reputation within the healthcare industry; high employee morale.

Weakness in competition: relatively higher price than other Tier 2 or Tier 3 consulting firms in the healthcare industry.”

“Strong employee morale, potential economic headwinds for mergers and acquisitions. M&A only forms one third of the firm’s areas of business, with strategy and organisation and performance starting to pick up steam.”

Hiring Process

“3 first round interviews, 2 second round interviews with partners with about 50% cut off between the two. Culture/team fit, resilience and determination, communication and problem solving are key.”

“L.E.K. seeks people who are dedicated to learning and improving, have low egos and, most importantly, are kind and generous with their time. We hire people who will continue to give back.”

“Looking for a bright individual who has interests outside of work and is eager to learn and to engage with the office culture.”

“Match between raw intelligence, curiosity and uniqueness. Everyone here is special and it creates an incredible culture.”

“The ideal candidate would be one who is both business sensitive and equipped with structural mindset.”

Interview Questions

“Case interviews.”

“How many people climbed Mount Everest last year?”

“In depth strategy and numeric case studies.”

“L.E.K. uses a combination of strategy, quantitative and behavioural interviews throughout the process.”

“What is the Japan annual revenue of drug X for disease Y.”