No structure and terrible leadership; No real projects, turning into a body shop - Principal Consultant Capco Employee Review

1.0
23 May 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Salary - They are able to attract some talent by paying decent premium over competitors. Don't fall for it, it's a trap.

Cons

Structure - There is no structure at this place. Everyone is basically on their own once they join, no matter what level. Partners don't manage a P&L and are 100% sales focused so they don't care and have no incentive to care about the people (unless if they already have relationships with them). The staffing process is unstructured and provides no visibility into what is actually real work vs. made up work. HR is terrible as well and doesn't respond to emails when you reach out to them with any questions or concerns about support that employees should be receiving in order to get staffed on projects. HR and leadership is responsible for setting employees up for failure given the structure, lack of support, lack of work, and poor leadership. Work - Capco no longer wins any real projects as they once used to. The only work coming in is staff augmentation work which is for junior staff. There is no real growth for junior staff or anyone at mid/senior levels. Leadership - There is no true leader as they try to be a flat organization. They may tell you how friendly the partners are and how they have an open door policy but don't fall for it. There are a couple partners who are genuinely nice and caring and extremely knowledgeable but most partners will not respond to emails or meeting requests unless if they actually need something from you. Leadership paints a very positive picture during townhalls but the numbers are clearly manipulated and those who understand how consulting works are able to see that there is no real revenue growth since there is no real work. Staffing - All staffing is supposed to be done on an internal system to demonstrate transparency. However, there is NO transparency at Capco. All staffing is done through relationships before the project is ever entered in the system. There is no transparency from a pipeline standpoint either as no pipeline is ever shared, even with PC and MP levels. Even if you work on a proposal for a partner, rarely will you actually hear whether Capco won or lost the work. There is no communication or transparency from anyone and often individuals are "tagged" to start on a project but never hear back from anyone if the project falls through (which tends to happen a lot). Bench keeps growing as no new work is being won but the firm keeps hiring while also laying off individuals despite not providing any support to the bench. Bench - The bench is a joke. If you're on the bench you get treated like you're in 2nd grade. They conduct attendance and throw surprise 'bench meetings' on the calendars to ensure that those who are on the bench are actually showing up to the office. No one has any real accountability of the bench since the firm has no real structure so once you're on the bench you have to work your relationships in order to get staffed. If you're new, you're likely in trouble. Junior staff will get placed on staff aug projects with no growth and no real outlook. PC's/MP's are asked to use their external networks to try to generate business for Capco since day 1 and are pushed to share their contacts with management, even if they don't want to.

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Capco Response
8y
Thank you for the positive feedback on salaries. We benchmark our compensation to the market and pay our people to market, and to the high end of market for top performers. It seems that many of the concerns you have raised relate to personal dissatisfaction with the way in which you have been resourced on projects. As a firm, we recognize that effective resourcing requires that people are allocated to projects which play to their strengths and career / development aspirations, so they can maximize their contribution to the firm. As this doesn’t seem to be happening in your case, please consider raising these concerns with your Regional HR Lead, Mary Keller. Mary will look to address your concerns and work with you to identify some solutions. The firm is very committed to providing a high-quality experience for our people and retaining talent in the firm, so please reach out to us with any concerns and we will work with you to find appropriate solutions. Below are some specific responses to other comments you have shared. We would be happy to meet with you to discuss these and want to support you. - Partners at Capco are focused on providing quality solutions for our clients. This includes a sales component, but also includes a keen focus on successful delivery and leadership of teams. We take your feedback seriously and will ensure that the Partners are aware of this perception and work to address it. The firm operates a professional Resourcing function which aims to match skills and aspirations to opportunities and projects. HR can support you in accessing this facility properly. - It appears that there have been some instances of HR not responding quickly to emails. This is being addressed. If you need to speak to someone in HR quickly, please also feel free to reach out by phone or to stop by if you are in the office. - The firm is undertaking an exercise currently, aimed at more effective management of the bench, including more transparency around opportunities and more effective management of any downtime (Capco is one of the few consultancies in which Community-based activity outside formal job-role is assessed formally and contributes to rating and bonus). - While you have expressed concern about staff augmentation projects, some staff aug projects will always be a feature of consulting roles in a competitive consulting sector. These projects can provide important opportunities to build skillsets, expand your network, and develop your career.

Explore other reviews about Capco

5.0
20 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good work life balance. Genuinely feel cared for as an employee. Good benefits with comparable, competitive pay and bonus structure.

Cons

Nothing notable at this time.

2.0
19 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Good work-life balance - Nice people - Cool office (Empire State Building)

Cons

- Low raises + bonuses (promotions are highly political/based on who you know) - Low mobility on certain projects - Difficult to get involved in planning/helping with community events (part of performance review) - Leadership positions competitive rates as our differentiator (i.e., firm competes on cost rather than on technical depth/expertise relative to peer firms)

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