Think Achieving Work-Life Balance In Consulting Is Impossible? Think Again

For her part, Corridon — an assistant principal within ZS’s oncology vertical — can’t support the stereotypes. She’s actually found her role at ZS to be one involving a good amount of flexibility, especially when she contrasts her workload with some of her friends’ in other industries.

“None of my girlfriends from my MBA program are in consulting, and they all work just as much as I do and in many ways have less flexibility,” she pointed out. “If I decide I want to take on additional travelling projects, that decision really lies within me and my power, so to speak… We are thoughtful about (travel), and therefore you don’t consistently see the typical Monday-through-Thursday-night, every-single-week project model; in fact, it’s rare.”

To be sure, by virtue of the way business is done in the consulting industry, life at ZS can still involve some time spent on the road. But rather than subject all employees to the same travel standards, consultants at ZS have the ability to choose a focus and thus maintain more control over their schedules, Corridon clarified.

“You can be client-focused local to where you live or expertise-focused, which may involve a bit more travel but offers the benefit of seeing more of what’s happening across the industry,” she explained. “We have both models and people can have very successful careers in either one. They can also make a shift over time to better balance their lifestyle and their professional aspirations.”

That combination of collective support and personal agency is paramount to the company’s values, and something Corridon says she sees reflected in the day-to-day of her job, too.

“I really do want to be in the office and working with my teams, but I also have flexibility so that if I’m working all morning with teams across the globe that aren’t local in Boston, I can work from home that day,” she said. “If I’ve had an especially heavy week away from home, I can schedule some personal appointments around that, or I can take an hour out to have breakfast with my husband. I don’t have to feel like it’s a secret, or that I need to cover that up.”

Of course, given the increasingly global and plugged-in nature of not only consulting, but most competitive modern industries, not every weekend can be spent in an uninterrupted movie binge-fest. However, Corridon wouldn’t want it to be — her work at ZS, she says, is what truly energizes her, and she knows her team feels the same. And it’s this sense of driving passion that not only helps to stave off burnout, but also makes the company especially millennial-friendly, she adds.

“People are really excited about what they’re doing; we have a lot of interesting people doing interesting things, and with similar passions,” she said. “To me, I think that folds really perfectly in with what a lot of millennials are searching for… to feel like they’re serving a greater purpose or doing something that has meaning and isn’t just focused on the bottom line.”

Though she’s quick to note that ZS does “compensate people very well for what they’re giving,” what’s more important from a generational perspective is the company’s emphasis on values. And that’s evidenced, at least in part, by their slew of social events, like monthly “family meeting” lunches, game nights, in-office wine tastings, and other team-building activities. As busy as consultants often are, it feels especially significant how well-attended these events tend to be — while many of us may moan and groan about being “forced” to attend our company’s annual holiday shindig, the folks at ZS seem to genuinely enjoy spending time together, and doing so often.

“Myself and other leaders at ZS aren’t just focused on driving revenue and selling projects. We have a keen desire to stay connected with each other, and that’s a value of the firm’s, too,” Corridon said. “We know that we will not retain new, young Gen Z talent if we don’t care about our people.”