Hewitt Associates Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Hewitt Associates full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Co-workers are great, some flexibility

Cons – Long hours - not a lot of recognition

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Hewitt Associates

Pros – The company hired mostly capable people and had a good salary and benefits

Cons – there were so many processes that were unnecessary that work was not very efficient

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Hewitt Associates

Pros – My co-workers and managers were friendly and supportive. As a large company, there are ample opportunities to move elsewhere in the firm.

Cons – I believe that the compensation for my position was less than some of the competitors. I also found it very difficult to get information about Hewitt's operations in other countries (I considered moving to Asia if there was a suitable position).

Advice to Senior Management – I think that the company would benefit if all of the different sections communicated more, and if there were some systematic way to share resources, as I have the impression that certain teams or departments strive to "reinvent the wheel" for certain tasks, when someone else in the company already has found a solution.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Hewitt Associates

Pros – Large company, great exposure to big clients.

Cons – Limited professional growth/advancement, at least before being bought out.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Hewitt Associates

Pros – Health and Dental Benefits are really good here, and you get them from day one of starting here. Otherwise pay is neutral

Cons – I don't see much of an opportunity for advancement. I think its difficult to move cross-departments

Advice to Senior Management – Have a mentorship program setup for new employees to explore different avenues Hewitt can offer. Also, provide more cross-training to help employees develop new skills.

Current Employee – been working at Hewitt Associates

Pros – Just Started with the company. Co-workers are friendly

Cons – Less oportunity to grow within

Advice to Senior Management – Needs to recorginize employee needs

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Hewitt Associates

Pros – The work life balance is pretty good at Hewitt, they allow working from home time to time to allow for people to manage their personal life and balance their work load. Vacation time is decent, though is changing. Work can be interesting depending where you end up and what team you are on, and is really what you make of it. Very comfratable place to work at, great co workers

Cons – With the merger benefits are getting severely reduced to making the company basically the same as any other company to work for. Not sure what other immediate down stream effects the merger will have, but benefits are definitely getting reduced as well as the work force. Was bounced around on a lot of different teams given their organizational structure, which is now changing again. For the past 2 years that i have been here, and talking to other colleagues the place has been in organizational flux for the past 5 years since going public. Can definitely tell from people that have been here longer that they are frustrated with the constant flux and the not knowing. Attrition has definitely been a problem as well, going from the management down. I have seen and heard of a lot of people "dissapearing quietly". Defintely adds to the somber atmosphere when a senior manager dissapears, or another co worker leaves. Performance review from what i hear is also ridiculous. Though they preach to be a leader in the industry, the performance review process is from the stone age. At any given bank, or other company there is a formal review as well as mutual sign off, that does not happen here. What happens is if your manager (not even your team) likes you then your in. I have seen people move into roles that were very undeserving only due to the fact that they were the hiring managers pet, and other hard workers have to take the long road up. Though the review is a 360 review, it doesnt matter if your co workers and reviewers give you perfect reviews, the end of the day the manager has the last word and will only give you "ok" and never "exceeds" even though your reviews are glowing. Reviews are very much in the hands of your manager. If you come from a technical computer science background, I would recommend that you get your experience and leave.

Advice to Senior Management – Make it pay for performance vs pay what i feel like paying you, little to no incentives to try any harder then anyone else since no matter how hard anyone works they will still get the same thing as the slacker next door.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Hewitt Associates

Pros – Your work experience at Hewitt truly depends on the group you land in and the competence of the manager you have. With the right management team there are wonderful opportunities to learn and be a part a leading organization. There is never any lack of work to do (see cons!) so there is ample opportunity to take on more. One of the guiding competencies is Continuous Improvement and associates are encouraged to develop new ways of doing things.

Cons – The workplace is in constant flux. Turnover is incredibly high and employee engagement is incredibly low. It's a poorly kept secret that Hewitt's engagement was so low that we wouldn't have qualified to participate in our own 50 Best Employers study. There is little consistency in the ability of managers within the organization. I had the best manager of my career and the worst manager of my career at Hewitt. In their enthusiasm to "continuously improve" the policies and processes can be difficult to follow. Often, perfectly effective business practices were thrown away in pursuit of the next best thing.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't be afraid to toss the dead wood you accumulate when you acquire outsourced business. Put more money and more support behind employee development and employee education.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Hewitt Associates

Pros – 2 managers... Canadian manager was excellent, the US manager out of Chicago was horrible. The staff was all young and was the best working environment I have ever worked at. Everyone got along and everyone was helpful. Learned the most out of any job I've had due to great working relationships among the team.

Cons – Counterparts in the US, however were horrible. Information was not readily available and the management I reported to did not have any idea what was going on in Canada

Advice to Senior Management – Get to know your employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Hewitt Associates

Pros – -Gained valuable experience
-Was given a lot of responsibility
-Learning experience
-What doesn't kill you makes you stronger type thing

Cons – -Was lied to by managment
-Bizarre rules---no talking permitted etc.
-No chance of promotion
-No chance of earning any more than a 2 or 3 per cent raise

Advice to Senior Management – I have no advise or feedback to offer to the leadership at Hewitt Associates. They are a corporation like any other, maybe worse than most.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend