Work/Life Balance Innovations at Bain & Company

by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

As the firm at the top of Consulting magazine’s “10 Best Firms to Work For” for the sixth year in a row, Bain & Company knows a thing or two about keeping their employees happy and engaged. “The most important thing to understand about consulting is that the retention of top talent is a major business priority,” said Heidi Locke Simon, a Partner in Bain’s San Francisco office. “We at Bain have a history of flexible work options for both men and women. These policies are designed for all top talent, not for employees of a particular gender.” While not solely for women, the programs in place are helping their female employees stay in the Bain family, or easily “on-ramp” after leaving due to familial obligations.
“Let’s Presume Success. There is No Downside.”

Jen Binder-Le Pape joined Bain right after graduating from business school. She was on the traditional consulting track until 2002, when her husband got assigned to an office in a small town in France, too far from the nearest Bain office. While in France, she kept in touch with people and happenings at Bain through informal conversations with mentors, as well as through official channels such as the alumni newsletter.

When she and her family returned to the United States in 2004, one of the partners with whom she’d kept in touch spoke to her about coming back in a newly created “practice area manager” role. At that time, Binder-Le Pape wasn’t sure whether she could balance family and work demands in the hybrid position, but her mentor remained encouraging. “My mentor said, ‘Let’s figure this out together. Let’s presume success. There is no downside.'” Now the Practice Area Manager of Bain’s Telecommunications, Media & Technology consulting practice, Binder-Le Pape splits her time between the operational aspects of running the practice and supporting client work by acting as an advisor to case teams. Client work in consulting is known to be time intensive, which can be challenging for men and women with young children or other dependents. Binder-Le Pape finds that the Practice Area Manager role affords her great work-life balance because it allows her to work remotely with the practice area affiliates all around the world.

“What matters [to Bain management] is quality of results, not time,” said Binder-Le Pape. She particularly enjoys the ability to work a flexible schedule: she works while her kids are in school, then spends time with them in the afternoon, returning to work for a few hours after they go to bed.

The other benefit of the Practice Area Manager position is that while it is less strict in terms of time demands, it still allows those in the program to keep a foot on the client side of consulting, which helps them ultimately return to client-side work if they so desire.

Time to Take Two

Most consulting companies have sabbatical leave available to partners after a certain number of years of service. Bain is no exception; partners earn a month of sabbatical for each partnership year. But where Bain stands out is their “Take Two” program, which allows non-partners and consultants at any level to take a two-month “mini sabbatical” for any reason.

Corrie Carrigan, a Manager in Bain’s Chicago office, was one of the first people to take advantage of the program. While a man sitting next to her in the information session wondered aloud who would want to take two months off without pay, she was intrigued. “I was two years into my career, and I had just reached the point when I was trying to figure out if consulting was for me…I submitted my application almost immediately after the meeting.”

She and her husband traveled for almost the entire time, exploring the Costa Rican coast and hiking in Patagonia. For at least part of the trip, she also traveled with friends from a variety of industries–consulting, private equity–talking about career paths and negatives and positives of each industry. By the end of the trip, Carrigan had decided she would indeed continue on her consulting career path and go full speed ahead towards a management position at Bain. “The time away from the job gave me chance to think about what I really liked about my job and the company overall. It also gave me a sense of renewal. I was ready to jump back into things upon my return.”

Locke Simon mentioned that the demand for the Take Two program is very high among male and female employees but not everyone takes advantage of it. “At the end of the day, just knowing you can take time off is very liberating.” Of those who do “take two”, some use the break to spend time with their children. Others, like Carrigan, use the time to travel or volunteer. All are welcomed back with open arms and often given an opportunity to share their experiences (and their numerous travel pictures) during their time off in “town hall” meetings in the company. “[The return to the office] was easier than I thought it would be,” said Carrigan, “I was really ready to start using my brain again, ready to get back into work after reading and relaxing.”

Even the man from the information session who was initially doubtful of the value of the program ended up “taking 2” the following year to reconnect with his family. “He is one of the more driven people [at Bain] and to see him take the time–to say other things are important too–sent a really important message,” added Carrigan.

“Two months is long, but not so long that you lose career momentum,” said Locke Simon, who used her two-month break to spend time with her daughter during summer vacation. “It gave me an increased level of excitement and appreciation when I came back.”

Programs designed to afford employees a better work/life balance are nothing new at Bain. For over twenty years, Bain’s corporate culture has allowed employees to utilize part-time/flextime schedules for at least part of their careers. “I have taken advantage of many flextime options,” said Locke Simon, who in her 16 years at Bain has, in addition to the “take- two” break, taken a leave of absence when her first child was born and worked under two subsequent part-time arrangements. These newer programs are just an additional layer that promotes employee loyalty and retention.

The last word goes to Steve Ellis, the Worldwide Managing Director of Bain. When Consulting magazine asked him about the company’s top ranking in work/life balance on their survey, Ellis replied, “What we’ve learned over the years is work/life balance has to be defined at the individual level. It means different things to different people at different times in their lives. What is universally true is the importance of two key factors—control and impact. If our teams are working in an environment where they have an appropriate level of control over their schedule and their work is clearly having measurable impact, they can achieve their definition of work/life balance.”