Ryan, LLC Reviews

I have been working at Ryan, LLC full-time

Pros – Cool people to work with so far...they seem very helpful.
I can lots of potential in the type of projects and engagements I can be involved in.

Cons – There are sometimes steps and processes that you must go through to get simple things approved.
It would be nice if it moved faster at times.

Advice to Senior Management – Check back with me in 6 months.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Ryan, LLC full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great advancement opportunities
myRyan offers flexibility
Brint Ryan is a great innovator and visionary

Cons – Although Ryan offers great advancement opportunities, salaries remain lower than what the market is paying in most cases.

Advice to Senior Management – Pay employees more competitive salaries comparable to the market for lifelong employment.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Ryan, LLC full-time for less than a year

Pros – There is no micro-managing; trust is apparent in the Firm; many free courses in the realm of business and bettering oneself are available via RyanNet (the Firm's intranet); always recognized and appreciated for stellar work and the carte blanche to work from home!

Cons – On "Casual - Charitable Friday's" you must pay $5.00 (or more, depending). In the oil and gas industry it's $2.00 and at other property tax firms it's free.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Ryan, LLC full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Paid for results not "face time".

Cons – No guarantee that prior results = future results

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Ryan, LLC full-time for less than a year

Pros – This company is flexible health conscious and willing to help, yet one must still work hard and can be proud of their accomplishments. The work environment is great and everyone gets along. Substantial sick and paid time off days are given.

Cons – Like with most tax practices, there are periods when one has time to complete tasks and times when one is completley overwhelmed with work.

Advice to Senior Management – Try to incorporate tuition reinbursment.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Ryan, LLC full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Leaders listen to feedback and implement new ideas. The level of professionalism is high and, it is not just a tagline, it truly is about client service. Ryan is really a great place to work.

Cons – "Unlimited PTO" takes some time to figure out. It works, though, and people do take the time that they need while also delivering exceptional results.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Ryan, LLC full-time

Pros – The company values creativity and forward thinkers. The MyRyan program creates a flexible work environment that fits your schedule. Ryan is ideal for a self-starter with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Cons – Some of the procedural requirements can seem a bit unecessary.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Ryan, LLC full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great bonus structure but no controls or ways to ensure that discrimination doesn't occur

Cons – Bonus structure based on management discretion so bonus can be allocated to favorites even if the other employees didn't charge any time to the project. Part of the annual review is based on the bonuses that managers decide to allocate.

HR very slow to respond to serious issues and complaints ignored even when proof of managment/employee relationships that affect projects and partiality.

Expect to go to Dallas for annual meetings where Brint will brag about his million dollar house then turn around and request that all employees donate to his PAC directly out of their paychecks

Be prepared to attach yourself to a senior manager and hope that they are the favorite of the principal. Principals assign work to favorites and not necessarily the person that needs work or that even brought the project in.

Make sure you document your work as you can expect managers and above to take credit for your work without any recognization

Advice to Senior Management – Managers should be up front about the bonus allocations and ensure that only the employees that worked on the projects should receive a bonus. Additionally, the firm should stick by their policy on relationships and prevent people in relationships or family from reporting directly to each other.

HR should properly address concerns of employees.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Ryan, LLC full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Ryan is a great place to start your career. They train you very well, and you will certainly know whatever practice area you're hired into very, very well. They also provide wonderful soft skill training classes as well. The work is interesting and ever-changing, which is nice. The benefits are nice and fairly comparable to others in the same sector. The flex environment provides the opportunity to really balance out your professional and personal life as long as you have a manager willing to allow you to take advantage of it.

Cons – While there, you will feel like you are preparing yourself for many more opportunities. This is untrue - you will find that unless you are in a specialty tax practice (severance, motor fuels, property, etc.), the daily activities and tasks you become very proficient at are not really especially desirable to anyone other than other consulting firms (unless you plan to be at Ryan for many years). There is no compliance work, no strategic planning, or any other of the many requirements that you will find when/if you start looking to move on from Ryan. Moving from one tax practice to another is difficult and practically unheard of - if you are hired into the Sales and Use Practice, do not expect to be able to easily move to Property Tax or Severance Tax. The bonus structure is biased and unfair. Unless you are on one of the "rockstar" teams (it usually ends up that the same 10-15 teams are making the most revenue each and every year), you will not be making the additional salary that Ryan likes to say that everyone in the firm is making. Also, Ryan has become very slow to promote to a management level (expect it to take 8-10 years). Additionally, the raise cycle is inconsistent and difficult (not the average annual pay increase that is fairly common at other firms). The flex work environment that Ryan has is difficult to navigate at best. As long as you have a manager that is willing to allow you to use it, it's great. However, it can be very frustrating when you are made to feel guilty/punished when taking time off. Not having a set amount of PTO days makes taking vacation near impossible. You will never truly be off, you will be expected to answer emails and phone calls while on vacation regardless. Also, working from home is not as common as they would make it to be - lots of the managers still feel that if you are not in the office, you are not actually working. Expect to be in the office on a consistent basis and expect to put in as many hours as anyone working at the Big Four (expect 50-60+ hours a week).

Advice to Senior Management – Find a better way to distribute projects to all teams within the firm. Provide additional training (internal or external) so that employees are able to expand their professional development. Allow employees the option to either remain with the current bonus structure or opt for a higher base salary with no (or very little) bonus allocation in order to balance out the inequities. Provide tuition reimbursement options to employees. Bring back having a set number of PTO days (or at least a set minimum that is enforceable) so that employees can actually "unplug" and not feel guilty/looked down upon for taking some personal time.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Ryan, LLC full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Ryan is a results-oriented firm which has experienced tremendous growth since its inception in 1991. I have been able to move up through the ranks fairly quickly, as my performance is reviewed according to the results I produce and is not based on tenure. This truly allows an individual to take his/her career into their own hands and get rewards commensurate with their contributions. Ryan is a fast-paced and challenging place to work; the environment allows constant opportunity for learning and professional growth. Also, Ryan provides certain benefits, such as free parking, a flexible work environment, and project bonuses, which are uncommon among similar firms and truly a testament to the value that the ownership group places on its employees.

Cons – Expectations are very high at Ryan, sometimes unrealistically so. Additionally, the metric used to measure success is applied uniformly to disparate operations. This can lead to a spirit of defeatism at the management and staff levels, as certain individuals seem to be set up for success and others left to forge their own paths with much less support from the ownership group. Medical benefits are also quite expensive for the value received.

Advice to Senior Management – 1) Recognition: Teams who perform at 100% or higher of the myRyan measurement are not recognized. Also, teams who receive perfect client service scores without "sufficient" responders are not recognized. Management could do a better job of saying thank you to the nuts and bolts of the Firm, irrespective of the inevitable "top performers." It sends a message that meeting the Firm's very high expectations is not good enough. 2) Benchmarking: The one-size-fits-all benchmark does not set realistic and attainable goals for many teams within the Firm. Moreover, it undermines a manager's judgment when additional staff is needed to meet clients' needs, but a manager cannot act in a manner that he/she deems appropriate due to forecast/benchmark measurements. I advise that these measurements be revisited, taking into account the differences in practice areas and regional concerns. For example, some teams work primarily in states which allow sampling. In that case, the team will need to review approximately 2,000 sample invoices for a single engagement. In contrast, other teams work in detail review states, requiring them to review 8,000+ invoices for each engagement. When you consider the staff hours needed to complete a review for each team, the detail project will likely take 4 times as long to complete. However, these two teams are treated equally, or expected to produce the same monetary results with the same resources in the same amount of time, in accordance with the current measurement. Additionally, new consultants should be phased in, as their contributions do not become fully meaningful until at least year 2 and training these individuals takes away from the productivity of other employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company