Company: Deloitte
Date: 2018-04-09
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: former

Better options elsewhere
Pros: See the explanation provided below.
Cons: I worked at Deloitte for a number of years.  However, the company has in recent years suffered in some critical areas.  During my time there, I experienced poor management from supervisors, lack of communication and guidance from leadership, and worst of all, terrible customer service.

Poor Customer Service – I asked for the IT Helpdesk regarding an issue with my computer, which required escalation to the national IT office since the local office was not able to complete it.  However, I received no response from the national office for my request despite multiple follow-ups via email and voicemails.  The local office also never bothered to check again into the issue, to see if I needed additional assistance.

Poor Value – Deloitte’s pricing for client engagements is above the norm.  While some of our clients needed that extra assurance that they are bringing on a prestigious accounting firm, many did not realize that comparable work could be performed by other respected regional or local accounting/consulting firms (many staffed by highly qualified employees formerly with Deloitte or other Big 4 firms) at a lower fee.  I’ve heard my Deloitte colleagues and managers joke about how the revenues we were getting from certain engagements far exceeded any value we provided to clients.  Joking about ripping off clients is not OK, but maybe that’s just me.

Mismanagement – Deloitte’s corporate culture can be described in many ways – political, soulless, and too focused on the bottom line that the treatment of employees becomes a side-story.  While some of the managers I worked with were good people to be around, many were too eager to please their clients with often unreasonable requests, forcing team members to work on the weekends and/or cut away precious time these employees had with their families.  (Coincidentally, most of the good managers who I worked with told me privately that they were leaving the company for many of the reason cited above.)

In summary, I believe that Deloitte is no longer the prestigious well managed firm that it used to be.  Its decline will continue until management is restructured to become more accountable to its clients and its employees.   The company’s slogan has recently been “Look Again”, advertised on their website and commercials.  Perhaps a better, more fitting, and honest slogan would be “Look Elsewhere”.