Slalom FAQ

Pros

Slalom is filled with consistently nice, smart and considerate people. The work is interesting and relatively flexible in terms of the types of projects and assignments.

Cons

The benefits package does not include sick leave! Hard to believe in these days, there is no allocated time off for illness (yourself or family). Sick leave comes out of vacation days.

Advice to Management

Include sick leave over and above earned vacation! This factor alone keeps me on the lookout for other positions in other companies. To me it speaks to lack of understanding regarding the realities of life.

Pros

- Transparent, caring, involved leadership- I could ask for a coffee chat with any exec - FUN company culture, creative outings and events - AWESOME co-workers: People are smart, hard-working, generous with their time, seek to improve the company, themselves and others, not just get the job done - Opportunity-- My manager advocates for me when I want to get on a specific project to build a specific skill-- some consulting firms force you to take the first open role - Flexibility- Slalom's MO is "What do the people want to do? Let's send a survey' so if you want to WFH fulltime, do it. Office? It's open. Go or not go to client site-- great, let's make it happen. - Benefits-- Competitive pay, good benefits -Work/life balance-- a pro/con depending on the project you're on

Cons

--Work/life balance-- a pro/con depending on the project you're on. Sometimes I can have a light work load, or it can be more. It also depends on how many internal project you sign up for. Slalom is what you make of it. Working 40hr is incredibly doable though - Consulting is very subjective so my co-workers often grumble at the promotion process.. it's hard to quantify this type of skillset until you start selling work

Pros

The people and culture here is pretty cool. They really do value learning and growing and are not ones to punish you for now knowing all the answers to life or for messing something up. If your into in person events, Slalom spends INSANE money on these kinds of things on a regular basis. They will rent out a whole ski resort once a year for a long weekend, quarterly meetings are usually at some cool bar or hotel they rented out with open bar and food. They host meetups and everyone gets some kind of learning budget.

Cons

All the money they spend on all these giant office parties means you get less in your paycheck. They say they are competitive but they are only competitive with other consulting firms, not other software jobs. You will ALWAYS be encouraged to attend as many in person Slalom activities as possible so if you are not into big crowds or driving to some downtown location regularly, this will actually be counted against you in performance reviews, bonus, and promotions so be prepared. As a software developer, the benefits are literally the bare minimum 3 weeks PTO, 3% 401k match, insurance is middle of the road but they do pay up to like $200/month on whatever level of coverage you choose. My manager told me that pretty much everyone was disappointed in their rase, I got 5% and was told that was on the upper end, so they don't keep up with inflation. A promotion will only get you a 10-15% pay bump, so a promotion is the only way to keep up with the world. Promotion process is ridiculous and takes a minimum of 6 months if you get accepted. 1) First you need to get permission to apply to start the promotion process. 2) If they give you permission to apply you have to give a presentation to start the promotion process and tell them all the "above and beyond" things you plan to do, but they can still decline you here. 3) If they give you permission again, you start your 6 month process of doing extra "above and beyond" stuff to compete with all the other people trying to get the same promotion. 4) After at least 6 months, you can then give a second presentation showing that you did all the "above and beyond" things you said you would do, plus some extra stuff. If they say yes, cool more money, if they say no, you start over.

Advice to Management

Seriously, only 3 weeks PTO? This is the number 1 complaint I have heard from most co-workers. If you're going to blame "poor economy" for a raise that doesn't keep up with inflation, maybe chill a bit on all the giant office parties. We would rather have a valid raise or some extra PTO.

Pros

Career opportunities, work/life balance, great pay, great company values, and truly intelligent people. There are so many things to love about working here, and I have grown to become a bigger advocate for Slalom over time. Slalom has been the longest employer that I’ve been at in the past 10 years since graduating from college, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked for other tech and industry companies prior. I am trying really hard to keep this review short, and to give other’s a glimpse of what Slalom is about. I plan on staying with Slalom for many more years to come, there’s so many learning opportunities, from earning new technology certificates, to new coding languages, or consulting skills, to leading internal initiatives, or helping great companies accomplish even greater things - this is the career benefit. For work/life balance - I am new mother, just returned from maternity, and I get to spend every morning and evening with my kids; I rarely work over time. Now for the people you’ll work with (colleagues) - everyone is super intelligent, humble, and will do their best to support you always. It’s about making connections and being authentic; as long as you are you, and are a team player, you will do well at this consulting firm. Now for Slalom - Slalom’s leaders mean well, they reflect often and do their best to show appreciate to their employees and awareness to changing times. I respect all of them, especially our ID&E leader. Slalom is an incredible company to work for and to be a part of. Good luck!

Cons

Maybe more PTO time, but they just increased our floating holidays and bumped up our 401k match, and give solid raises every year, even through 2020 COVID-19 and had no layoffs. They have their priorities straight, which is always putting their people first!

Advice to Management

Continue to focus on diversity hiring and looking at alternative avenues that people of color may use to achieve a college education, and not focus on solely elite universities. There’s a ton of talent and passionate people out there dying to get into Tech. Separate from this, keep doing what you’re doing, continuing to lean into the local markets and hearing how your consultants are feeling, what they’re going through and appreciating us as we work hard. I definitely feel appreciated with the increases in 401k match, more time off, and flexible benefits.

Pros

When I was going through the interview process, everything sounded so great, it was almost too good to be true... But three months into my role, I can say Slalom has a great working culture where the people really are at the heart of everything. You can bring your true self to work as there is a culture of openness and acceptance. Collaboration between teams is very much encouraged, with the office feeling like a big team, rather than siloed departments. They also re-evaluate their wellness and benefits policies every few months and keep adding new perks, which is a great plus. There is no pressure to be hugely billable, like in other big consulting firms, and you have a voice in the staffing because they really want you to work on projects that are exciting and value added for you. Career path is very well setup and they have great learning and internal growth opportunity platforms. If you're looking for all of the above, Slalom is the place for you!

Cons

There could be more women in leadership positions, but I'm aware that this is being addressed.