Benenson Strategy Group Reviews

- Terrible hours (not uncommon to work until 8pm every night) - Not infrequent to work until 2am multiple days in a row, with little acknowledgment that our bodies may not be capable of handling those hours - Tied to desk when at the office - Ton of busy work, very little ability to use one's brain and actually be strategic (unlike the project they give you to do during the interview) - Much of the job is checking and re-checking numbers and spelling, rather than learning any useful technical skills - Given the hours you work, pay ends up being just barely above minimum wage (for CA) - When C-Suite visits, they always try to take everyone to lunch. But the irony is that analysts and associates never actually have time to take a lunch break, so they end up just staying later to finish the work they missed - In the LA office, analysts all bonded over how terrible everything was. No one spoke out loud, it was like working in a library all day - There was a big emphasis on pecking order (analyst vs. senior analyst vs. associate). The tasks were very different for each level, with analysts getting stuck with the most trite and mundane tasks) - The work fostered a fear culture -- fear of making a mistake, fear of getting a number wrong. It was a culture of negative reinforcement, not positive - There were many times we'd work on a deck with a partner, hand in a penultimate draft (after touching base multiple times throughout the project) and then had to completely re-work it the day before it was due to a client because the partner didn't agree with the work we did. This happened more often than not, so much so that analysts just expected to work until at least 3am on days before projects were due. Then, analysts, who don't speak at all on calls with clients, were expected to come into work and dial in at 9am to hear the partner present the findings. - Despite it being a liberal company, there wasn't much room to talk about how toxic the work culture was, and its effect on employee's mental health. Analysts would often talk to HR about the issues, but no change was ever made. - Lack of diversity among upper management, and very little clarity on how to work towards a promotion - False promises of "fun, friendly atmosphere" - There is so much of the analysts work that should be automated. Much of the data management and collection systems are out of date - While working here, I almost never had time to foster relationships outside of work. It felt very limiting, and that I was expected to devote 24/7 to this field and career, despite having only just started my professional journey