Booz Allen Hamilton

"Find mentors who can help you advocate for yourself as this is critical to getting raises/moving up in the company."

"Fairly new to the firm but so far they have good benefits and no complaints on the medical side of the house. Leave days are alright I do wish there was more progression up to 30 for individuals based on years of service. "

"Booz Allen Hamilton goes above and beyond to support women and promotes more women to leadership roles regularly."

"The family leave policy is disappointing, especially when comparing to other firms who have generous leave policies. Depending on the team you’re on, you could run into some sexism but there are also many teams where it is a non issue. Flexibility is valued and encouraged; however, you’re still expected to figure out how to get your work done and meet deadlines, which is really tough in the age of COVID if you have children at home. The environment is very fast-paced and focused on delivery. Overall, I’m happy here. There are many opportunities to try new things, meet wonderful people, and to enjoy your work. My advice to others is to be careful of burnout."

"If you are prepared to work hard and do whatever it takes to get ahead, then the Firm would be a great place to work. It carries a long history and a lot of respect in the world. But, at least while I was there, there was no work-life-balance for women or men. They talked a great game, but it was a different world on the inside."

"Make your own way and network every day you can."

"Booz Allen has competitive leave policies. I have only ever felt supported by my management team when I have communicated my taking long term or short term leave. "

"BAH can be a difficult place to work at. You really have to take your career into your own hands and drive it, which can be hit or miss depending on your personality. The people I work with are wonderful and talented, and the work we do provides value to the world. Leadership puts a lot of effort into diversity and inclusion; however, sometimes it misses the mark. Your career is better if you are located near HQ in the DMV."

"Once you get to a certain level, it definitely gets hazier on how to continue up the ladder, but it's not impossible. It is fair and your network does matter."

"Don't discount the power of your network--it's important to continue to build and nurture your connections across the firm."

"Many different career paths -- up to you to chart your course. Booz Allen is very supportive and provides the wings to fly. Wonderful co-workers."

"The company in general is very supportive of gender equality, but each location and each team may vary, especially depending on discipline. "

"Booz Allen is a great place to be for women. Make sure that you're on a team that supports work-life balance."

"Politics do exist in the workplace. Definitely more men in higher leadership positions"

"be prepared to hit the ground running, as most teams expect full participation from day 1. Be prepared for monthly or weekly happy hours, networking events, town-halls."

"Expect to be a master networker and navigator of politics to order to succeed."

"Few women promoted to roles above the middle management level"

"Great culture, people, and training opportunities. Salary and compensation is rather on the lower end despite the big brand name."

"Highly competitive, versus collaborative, environment and astonishing lack of diversity in mid-career and upper leadership ranks. Go-along-to-get-along mentality creates unsafe environment to raise issues and drive debate."

"Depending on the area/functional group, the percentage of women employees may be fairly low (and the percentage of conservative male ex-military employees very high)."

"Be prepared to fall in line with what leadership wants you to be, otherwise you won’t advance. Very stovepiped organization of offerings, preventing movement within the firm. "

"Find the team that supports you and respects your time with family."

"The firm continues to evolve its policies to support women, families, diversity, etc. It's not perfect, but it's always improving."

"Positions working in defense/DoD typically have teams and clients that are male-centric."

"It's not 50/50 for gender disparity, but that has more to do with the industry in general. I think if you work hard and figure out how to make it up the ladder, you have no limits on what you can achieve. Leadership is definitely thinking about ways to improve the gender gap and work on women's initiatives so it's a great place to be at the moment."

"Its a big company and there will always be pockets of people (and men) who are not forward thinking. If you find that, just move on to another group/project. We have great women (and men) that lead this firm so don't feel stuck or that problems are an inherent part of the culture."

"Many people stay because of the flexibility (e.g. can adjust hours to coordinate drop offs) but it is a high price to pay for the inability to truly disconnect. While I may move things around to accommodate my schedule, I still end up working long hours. "

"Again, it depends on whether they would be client facing or an internal employee. Big difference in terms of flexibility, work-life balance, and culture. "

"Perk may not be advertised up front but every time I have asked for something, it has been well-received and granted. People don't know what you need if you don't speak up for yourself!"

"Only 2 weeks of paid maternity leave is offered after STD. STD varies between 5 or 7 weeks depending on type of labor. STD claims it is 6 or 8 weeks but you need to use personal PTO during that first waiting period week. "

"Booz Allen is a man's world. The office environment is not safe and the Ethics line is a complete joke. The Ethics line call center people didn't even know if BAH would ever receive a copy of my report, or who it would go to, or if they would follow up.j"

"It's consulting - it's long hours, and extra work isn't billable. Flexibility is very depending on your project team. "

"There is a strong double standard that is not acknowleged. Without a better awareness of the unconscious bias against women and persons of color, genuine correction of promotion practices cannot occur. Only lip service."

"The playing field is level. Prove yourself and you'll be rewarded."

"I had great female leadership on my contract! Can't speak to dynamics beyond that team."

"Negotiate your salary - they will absolutely low-ball you and you should really look to what you are worth or can get somewhere else."

"I don't like that I'm required to give input to see reviews. I don't have valuable insights since I'm early in my career but would benefit from seeing this information."

"Optional networking opportunities and outside-of-work projects? Not really, unless you never want to get promoted. Also, it often feels like a boy's club. Pay was bad compared to other consulting firms, and work could be mind-numbing and not challenging. No work-life balance. I left due to boredom during the day and stress after hours."

"Flexiblity with work assignments/hours depends a lot on your management team"

"Booz Allen makes honest attempts to promote diversity, and depending on your situation, you might be able to find mentoring and support. But there are definitely some biases under the surface, especially when it comes to how the male-dominated client views your work. It was also a very competitive environment in general, even across genders. As a bright young newcomer to a team, I encountered some adversarial relationships with other females."

"There area lot of women who work here, especially on my particular career team. This is most likely due to the type of work we all do. Women are in high-level positions and the glass ceiling is not something you typically have to deal with; however, I have observed an environment in which women are more than willing to stab others in the back to get to the top. Not everyone believes in helping other women succeed."

"If there is gender bias, it is subconscious. I have worked with some great bosses, and some not so great bosses. In general, I have seen males get promoted faster and for their "potential," while women have to prove themselves and their capabilities before they get ahead. Work life balance is good, with limited travel and a chances to work remotely. Lots of inspiring female leaders at the firm. But lots of subpar managers with limited soft skills."

"About 90% of the time it's a boys club, but if you find the right Principal (male or female), they treat men and women equitably. Unfortunately, these people are few and far between."

"Maternity leave at Booz Allen is essentially non-existent. You get 2 weeks off paid by the firm only. After that you have to rely on your own accumulated leave or short term disability for the next several weeks. Men and women get the exact same amount of time off (called parental leave) which feels unbalanced. The firm is a good place to work, allows for working from home which is a huge bonus as a working mom - but the firm knows that the WFH is a bonus, allowing them to keep salaries lower than they should be for skills provided. Speaking of bonuses, there are none for anyone under senior associate. And there is a bottle neck at the lead associate to senior associate juncture. The cause of this that there is a disproportionate number of lead associates slots (thousands) to the senior associate slots (a hundred or so) making it unrealistically competitive to get promoted and those promoted are mostly men, as it is a male-dominated business (ratio is likely 1 female promo to 5 male promos, at best). This of course leads to significant attrition. There is tuition reimbursement of 5k per year, but you have to stay with the firm a year or pay it back. This part is not women-centric, but important to know."

"Very entrepreneurial environment. If you are in for the long haul, think ahead about what it will take to make the career sustainable for you and focus on positioning yourself and building skills to that end."

"The glass ceiling hangs very low at Booz. You will get pats on the head for good work, but in leadership meetings, the men openly dismiss women team members. I saw over and over situations where a woman who brought in 3X revenue as her male counterpart be passed over for promotion, and then her leadership "realign" the team so that the male counterpart looked successful to line him up (successfully) for that same promotion.In one office, 60% of the staff at a mid-level were female, however the next level above, it was 97% male. In another office (of 400+ staff), it went 7 years without a single female promotion to management (while there was at least 1 male promotion each quarter in that same period). When people say Booz is a boys club- believe it."

"Inflexible and minimal vacation policy. Hours are flexible depending on what project you are on. Majority male."

"If you're lucky you can find clients that allow remote work, it makes it very flexible for times when your kid is sick."

"Great place to work! Very strong female leaders....in executive positions. Close knit women's group at the senior levels drive a women's agenda for the Firm. Sponsorship programs, high potential leadership development, coaching all available for women. Diversity is a way of life at Booz Allen. The men are great and support women...good benefits, on site daycare in Corp HQ, power up wellness programs encourage mind, body and spiritual health....glad I came and glad I stayed!"

"It not what you know, it's who you know. If you are relocating try to find an area that shortens your commute. Working 8 to 1p hour days, commuting average of 1 a day (+/- 10/30 minutes) works havoc on work/life balance."

"I would have tried to hit more boxes to get promoted prior to maternity leave"

"I've worked at the company for a long time and from a woman's perspective, the culture is not welcoming. Men feel emboldened to speak to women in a derogatory manner and exclude them from events that produce positive business development outcomes (i.e. Superbowl, golf tournaments, cigar outings). If you are contemplating working here and looking for a place that respects women, their opinions and puts them on equal footing as men, I would look elsewhere."

"The Firm offers incredible opportunities; take advantage of them - training, development, mentoring, affinity clubs, athletics."

"Don't limit yourself, there are many opportunities."

"Learn everything you can not only about your job but how to get promoted."

"Learn to be a politician"

"I would focus on networking like crazy and establishing credibility and a name for yourself before going on maternity leave, only because after children it gets much more difficult to attend networking events, and having a strong network and solid reputation is critical to be successful at the firm."

"Build your network"

"It's primarily an "Old Boys Club." Most employees are not located in the Washington DC area, yet all the benefit extras are focused on that area."

"It'll bleed you dry working but you will learn more than you will anywhere else. Some teams have great bennies, flex schedule, good benefits. Tough to get promoted without subjective proposal work."