Solid place to work - Functional Consultant ProQuest Consulting Employee Review

People are great, work from home.

My experience with the company started well, but the last two years became increasingly difficult, leading to a very challenging resignation. For two consecutive years, there were no salary increases or bonuses, even as workloads grew heavier and market salaries rose. Pay remained below industry average, adding to the frustration of being overworked and undervalued. While the company promotes values like ethics, excellence, and well-being, these are rarely reflected in day-to-day operations. Mental health initiatives were publicly advertised, but when employees struggled with work-related pressure, little genuine support was provided. Project assignments were non-negotiable, and expectations remained high, regardless of circumstances. Consultants are expected to manage multiple projects with very limited time for proper delivery or testing. Many end up covering additional roles like business analyst, senior developer, project manager, and scrum master — roles that formally exist but are often unavailable in practice, leaving consultants responsible for nearly everything. The ‘strategic group’ frequently made decisions disconnected from project realities, creating unnecessary challenges for delivery teams. High turnover has been a natural consequence of these poor decisions. Recognition is also uneven. While achievements are celebrated at leadership levels, those handling the actual workload receive little visibility or acknowledgment. Despite promoting itself as a ‘multi-territory’ business, clear differences exist in how regions are resourced and supported. The company also highlights its ‘Great Place to Work’ certification, but the survey process appeared inconsistent, with uneven distribution and repeated reminders to participate, raising concerns about the results’ accuracy. Finally, the resignation process was unnecessarily drawn out, with a long notice period adding more strain to an already difficult environment.

- Great team culture: Every single team member was kind, caring, helpful, and loved to joke around a bit too... some more than others ;) - Knowledge: I learned a great deal about SF, best practice, and stakeholder management in my time at PQ. I truly believe PQ saw my potential and willingness to learn and gave me opportunities that stretched me, but also always provided the support and framework to ensure that I didn't feel out of my depth whilst doing so. - Growth-focused: Difficult conversations were never focused on pointing blame, but learning from past experiences and working together to do better next time. - Flexibility/Autonomy: PQ was very flexible when it came to work location and hours. They trusted us to manage our own time and get the job done. - Work-life balance: We worked hard, but we also spent plenty of time talking about snd sharing our hobbies outside of work; cycling, golf, fitness, music, dancing, wine, etc.

- Growth/Renumeration: In a time where the tech/SF market was a bit tumultuous, I appreciate that my renumeration was quite good compared to most other places (especially for the years of SF I had under my belt) but, ultimately, I left because I had received an offer from another company that PQ would not be able to match. - Consulting itself was difficult for me. Despite all the pros I listed above, I think I knew from early on that I couldn't stay in consulting long-term: Bouncing from project to project was great for learning, but I missed the expertise that you get of a system by working on it for a year straight. When clients pay consulting rates, expectations can be high. Sometimes you deliver on or even exceed those expectations and develop great relationships with the client, but its not rare for things to go the other way too (granted, it was good to know we always approached these situations as a team and with each other's support) Daily timesheets were a pain but I guess a necessary evil in consulting. I always struggled with them because, even on days where I was working well, they could make me feel like I was not achieving.