Consulting Magazine - September 2015

BEST
FIRMS
THE2015

It must’ve been a pretty good year at Chicago-based West Monroe Partners. The firm’s been on a roll in the past few years, steadily climbing up our Best Firms to Work For rankings, moving from 15th to 10th to 7th the last three years. But in 2015, the employee-owned firm takes a giant leap into the rarified air of the Top 3.

Not surprisingly, President Kevin
McCarty says West Monroe’s morale
is very strong—engaged, optimistic,
and highly collegial and credits a
lot of that to the firm’s 100-percent
ownership model, which promotes
a high level of engagement and ac-
countability. “When you have a true
culture of empowerment, it trans-
lates to high engagement,” he says.
“Everyone here feels it’s his or her
job to nurture and preserve our cul-
ture—and that manifests itself in
everything from our workplace to
the quality of the work we deliver.”
McCarty says one of the most
unique things about the firm is its
blend of business and technology ex-
pertise—and, in particular, the way
in which West Monroe combines
those disciplines to transform op-
erations and achieve strategic goals.

“One of the fundamental elements of our employee value proposition is opportunity, and the best way to deliver opportunity is through strong and sustained growth,” he says.

To that end, McCarty says the
firm’s top priority is continuing to
pursue its multi-year strategic growth
agenda: building scale on both
coasts by maintaining productive
and healthy organic growth, while
at the same time selectively pursu-
ing acquisitions that make sense for
the business. That strategy is work-
ing. “We’ve grown by more than a
third in 2014, and our growth rate is
above 20 percent so far in 2015,” he
says. “Key areas of opportunity for
the next year or two include the siz-
zling merger and acquisition market,
which is generating a significant per-
centage of our work today, as well as
the rapidly evolving healthcare and
energy and utilities sectors.”
On the survey, the firm excelled in
the areas of Work/Life Balance and
Compensation & Benefits, where
the firm ranked second only behind
BCG. “This is the first time we’ve
ever scored highly in the area of com-
pensation in one of these surveys—
and we’re very pleased about that. It
reflects years of strategically building
a very compelling total reward pack-
age,” he says.

As far as the recognition, he says it’s always an honor and “validates the culture and 100-percent employee ownership model that we have worked so hard to nurture. And it enables us to continue attracting the best of the best talent.”

HEADQUARTERS: Chicago

BILLABLE CONSULTANTS: 500

CLIENT INDUSTRIES SERVED: Banking, Capital Markets, Energy & Utilities, Healthcare, Insurance, Life Sciences, Manufacturing & Distribution, Retail

CONSULTING SERVICE LINES: Operations Management, IT, Strategy

WERE THERE ANY SPECIFIC PROGRAMS OR INITIATIVES THAT YOU’D SAY CONTRIBUTED TO YOU BEING A BEST FIRM?

Kevin McCarty, President of West Monroe, says: “The ‘Best Firm’ recognition is the result of many things coming together well, but three ‘programs’ had a particular impact on our workplace and morale this year. Our Career Equity model is engaging our people in meaningful dialogue with career advisers and boards of advisers about how they can achieve both personal and professional goals while working at West Monroe Partners. Our employee stock ownership plan is now in its third year, and the rewards of this model are now becoming quite tangible for our people. And, over the past year, we also stepped up our focus on emphasizing the value—or total reward—of working at West Monroe Partners.”