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Management Consulting Updates
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The Boston Consulting Group will no longer fly future graduates hired across Europe to drink and dine on international trips, underscoring the tendency of companies to try to reduce their carbon footprint.
High-performing graduates who have been offered contracts to join the consultancy firm’s London office have traditionally been asked on all expenses paid on weekends to European destinations such as Florence and Lisbon.
The US-based group, which has offices in more than 90 cities around the world, competes fiercely for rookies with other major consulting firms such as McKinsey and Bain & Company.
The trips included wine tours and tastings at the vineyards and were also attended by seasoned BCG consultants, who were tasked with convincing the students to join the group as advisors to some of the world’s largest companies such as Starbucks, Shell and GlaxoSmithKline.
But future events will now be held either nationally or in international venues accessible by train as the group seeks to reduce its carbon emissions.
The change comes as many companies make net zero climate commitments and, after the shift to remote working, have established video calling as a viable alternative to many business travel.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also accelerated BCG’s efforts to reduce travel distances for internal events such as training in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint and save travel time, said Mai-Britt Poulsen , BCG managing partner for the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium.
“We are committed to reducing our carbon emissions by 50% per learner by 2025,” she said. “In London, that means graduates would take the Eurostar to Paris to train.” In the past, graduates might have flown.
A senior partner of another large consulting firm said its annual two-week residential training camp for newcomers will move partly online in the future, as the pandemic has shown parts of the program may be executed remotely.
The event, which the consultant said had a ‘hard work, play hard’ atmosphere, was also a social occasion and a way to familiarize new consultants with the basic skills needed for their roles.
Consultants from several companies said many national or European partner and board meetings, as well as internal training sessions, would move online or be held as hybrid events after the pandemic.
Pressure from advisory groups to reduce their carbon footprint has also led to increased pressure for some staff to avoid traveling in business class, which is more energy efficient, one of the consultants said.
Business travel accounts for over 75% of the carbon emissions of many professional service companies, which has prompted groups such as BCG, KPMG and Deloitte to use online tools showing staff the CO2 impact of their projects. before booking.
BCG has also banned its consultants from taking Paris-Nice flights, while staff at KPMG’s London office are required to take the train to Leeds, Manchester, Paris or Brussels.
“Once the travel restrictions related to Covid-19 are lifted, we will ask our employees to think more about how much they need to fly,” said Carmine Di Sibio, global chairman and managing director of the EY accountant.
“For example: could you do the meeting online? Could you take one longer trip instead of two shorter? Could you take a shorter route to your destination? Are there low carbon alternatives you could use, like a train? “
Kevin Ellis, senior partner and chairman of PwC UK, said he expected his company’s business travel to be reduced by around two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels.
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