Vault’s Verdict

At Teneo Consulting, insiders highlight a culture defined by cooperation, social opportunities, and sustainability. The firm’s consultants enjoy frequent lunches with their case teams, summer and Christmas parties, and an annual offsite to an international beach resort to connect with their peers. Teammates help each other on projects or when deadlines get tough without question, and leadership uses several formal mechanisms to protect work-life balance. These include weekly hours reviews, reset days at the end of cases, and manageable travel.

Additionally, the firm provides extensive flexibility when it comes to work arrangements. Using flex working arrangements or unpaid leave, consultants can choose to work four-day weeks, nine-day fortnights, or even only 11 months out of the year. Hours tend to average less than 50 per week.

The firm pays junior consultants at the same level within the firm equally, with a bonus based on firm performance. However, senior consultants’ compensation is more varied and includes a bonus for personal performance. Salary progression occurs quickly, as the firm’s promotion cycle is only six months and leaders give promotions as soon as a consultant shows they’re ready.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “Friendly, supportive culture with early engagement with clients/ownership of client relationships. Huge focus on work-life balance, with robust policies such as weekly review of hours across the team to identify hot spots and mitigations, proactive use of TOIL, and reset days with protected hours after cases end. Flexible working and unpaid leave are available to every level of the firm, enabling people to work, for example, four day weeks or 11 months of the year. Managers reviewed on sustainability of their cases”
• “Can get crunchy on PE projects, but otherwise great culture.”
• “I value the approach of the firm in allowing flexible working, as I live a long way from my main office.”
• “The culture is genuinely inclusive and supportive. People are happy to help you, and there is no atmosphere of peer-to-peer competition.”

Quality of Life

• “Very open to extended leave and flexible working arrangements (I work a nine-day fortnight, which is relatively uncommon in client-facing professional services careers).”
• “Hours slightly lower than comparable firms (long-term average below 50). Also very good long-term/unpaid leave policy.”
• “Lots of flexibility but doesn’t change the fact that the hours are long.”
• “Best: Travel requirements, respect for work-life balance. Worst: Reality of consulting work-life balance (but that’s universal to consulting).”

Career Development

• “Fast promotion (six monthly opportunities enable everyone to move almost as soon as they are ready), and a huge amount of 1:1 and group career support.”
• “I really appreciate how transparent the performance evaluation and promotion process is, and how it accounts for wide-ranging perspectives rather than relying on, say, just your manager to make that assessment.”
• “Development opportunities are very frequent and valuable. This allows for very quick career progression. Potential downside is this can lead to a slightly elevated pressure.”
• “Pros: Rapid promotion opportunities, meritocratic, mentoring. Cons: Limited international consulting offices/mobility.”

Compensation

• “At the junior grades, everyone at the same level is paid equally, and there’s pay transparency across the board. We get some great perks like a free weekly lunch with our case team, a summer party, and a Christmas party. One of the highlights is the annual offsite to an international beach resort, which is always a really fun weekend. Salary progression is strong, especially early on—you get a promotion and a salary increase when you pass probation. The bonus is based solely on company performance, which works well, though it might be even better if individual performance played a part too.”
• “Six-month promotion cycles, so chance to increase salary quickly. Paternity leave behind industry though (four weeks vs. three months at most comparable firms).”
• “Best: Total pay equality across grade (until ST, with introduction of personal bonus). Worst: Pension contribution.”
• “Our firm has a dedicated Health and Wellness Committee that regularly hosts events to support employee wellbeing. These include access to gym classes such as Pilates, HIIT, and Padel. We also offer informative sessions on meal prepping and how to prepare nutritious meals. In addition, employees can benefit from free mentoring and support sessions.”

Inclusion

• “Dedicated ERGs, but these are not well funded and side-of-desk so can fizzle out. LGBTQ+ is a surprising gap (efforts focused on women and ethnicity).”
• “Strong inclusion efforts.”

Business Outlook

• “I think we have scope to be more innovative, of course, but we have very clear plans for growth and for the development of the capabilities and talent that will support this.”
• “Continuing to grow quickly despite material market headwinds.”
• “We have incredibly strong growth and a good outlook. However, we also have very aggressive ambitions that I worry will dilute culture/performance.”
• “I think we are particularly strong in tech.”

Hiring Process

• “Structured process for graduate and experienced hires, incorporating CV and cover letter review, initial interview, CV discussion, quant test and several case studies. We aim to provide feedback and information on the next step or offer very quickly, typically within 24 hours. Ideal candidate will have potential (or proven) technical capabilities, commercial curiosity, good cultural fit, and (for experienced hires) appropriate experience or expertise.”
• “Teneo’s interview and callback process is quite efficient. When I applied, it started with a simple application and basic assessment, followed by an online video interview with two questions—you could re-record your answers as many times as you liked. The first-round interview focused on your CV and motivation for joining Teneo, along with a short case study led by more junior team members. The final round was in person with two senior leaders and included more in-depth case studies. In terms of what Teneo looks for, I’d say the ideal candidate is confident and friendly, someone who’s comfortable thinking out loud, and who isn’t afraid to ask clarifying questions if something isn’t clear.”
• “Intellectually curious, logical, commercially astute, and someone you’d want to work with!”

Interview Questions

• “Case study: Given some data around a business’s cost base and volume projections, how might it rationalize to improve margins? Case study: Given some data around market trends, pricing and capacity, should a business enter into a new partnership to grow share?”
• “What company you would like to work with given the opportunity? Why Teneo? Why consulting?”
• “Multiple rounds of consulting case studies. Experienced hires also have a peer interview.”
• “Typical case interviews for juniors.”