Management out of touch with employees
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
The biggest advantage by far is an opportunity to work across all of Allianz. As an in-house consultant you rotate on projects across many Allianz entities and thus to get to know different lines of business. There are even opportunities to do a project abroad or switch into an entity at better conditions - you have to prove yourself and constantly look for these opportunities though, you can be supported but it is not always handed to you. If on the right project, you will also get direct exposure to senior and C-suite management.
Allianz Consulting is also incredibly international, with 80% of colleagues in Munich being non German. Most colleagues are young and often very pleasant to work with. Most people are easily approachable (even outside of Consulting, and within broader Allianz) and it is common to invite a 'stranger' colleague for a coffee and discuss ideas. If you have great ideas and can convince people, you will be able to unlock opportunities for yourself with other Allianz entities (but likely no one will help you from consulting).
Allianz Consulting has an excellent reputation on the open market, and employees get a lot of recruiting interest from other companies, even big tech. Image wise, it can be a great career stepping stone.
The nature of the work itself is quite surface level and does not require any deep technical skills or specific knowledge. It is mostly people management or project management - what can be seen as an advantage or a disadvantage.
Remote working and remote projects are also incredibly common and accepted, there are even colleagues who come into the office once a month or even live outside of Munich at all. If you value remote working, this job is for you!!
You can use excellent internal coaches free of charge that help you navigate challenges of Allianz Consulting.
There are programs to get Allianz shares at a preferential price and you can even get 1 free share per year.
Timing and duration of vacation is generally not ever a problem (although also starting to shift in some departments).
ESG values are strong and women make up over 50% of Allianz Consulting.
Depending on the department and management, you will also get support to pursue your own ideas, projects and research.
Being a large German company, you are very well protected by the workers council against firing. Also quite uncommon that someone would not pass the probation.
Food in the canteens is excellent, top notch !! Although not always cheap
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
There is no culture and the work climate started to deteriorate a while ago, although this vary by department or team. In general, there is little to no connection between (senior) management and individual contributors. It is rare that the wishes or concerns of employees are heard, more often than not they are disregarded - management just pushes their agenda, irrespective of employees' opinions. For some reason, always great employee satisfaction is advertised, although it is often not the case.
In general, managers are rarely great. Whether the wrong people are promoted, or they are not being trained properly, but management is unfortunately the weakest link. The strong push for gender equality often gives a feeling of actual people skills and performance gets deprioritized.
There is little flexibility on promotions and salaries. Performance and real business impact does not matter much and it is better to chill and play safe, since you will not be monetary rewarded for overachieving. Little support is given to those who decide to think outside the box and go for new opportunities that benefit the business. It is more common to receive praise for 'standard practices', even if they do not benefit revenue or potential growth.
A lot of managers would also make mistakes due to their incompetence and shift the blame on you, resulting in poor performance reviews and impacting the promotions. In general, promotions are often affected by factors that are outside of someone's control, e.g. project availability. If the manager did not sell enough projects for you to be on, you will not be promoted, despite excellent performance on past projects. More often than not, the role of billable days is downplayed, while at the end it makes a big impact.
For promotions, you need to receive a 'go' from all managers of the department, which not often happens. Meaning, you'd have to cater to not only your manager and the project lead, but other managers from other teams that you have absolutely no business involvement with.
Moving between consulting departments themselves within Germany is very hard and inflexible and it is rarely that someone would truly help you.
Moving between countries or getting on international projects is also quite difficult, often not encouraged or supported - but these opportunities exist if you try hard and get lucky!!
Mid-term/long-term development within consulting is tricky. The knowledge curve flattens quite quickly due to the nature of the work itself being generic. And on the formal side, there are limited opportunities for being promoted or becoming manger. Probably best for a short amount of time, 1-2 years max.
There are also managers and employees behaving inappropriately and they are not being held accountable for it.
In general, some teams, people and managers can be quite toxic.
Most internal trainings are useless and waste time more than anything else. Often people who hold them are not properly skilled either.
There are also barely any team events or parties, which again shows the priorities or Allianz Consulting parties.
A lot of people are currently leaving and this trend is not likely to stop in the near future.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
Listen to employees and implement what they want, otherwise you will lose the best people!
Give the individual contributors freedom and support to develop into their desired field instead of locking everyone in into imaginary borders that have no real business impact. Support everyone, instead of pushing your own agenda!
Hire great people and promote great people, especially when it comes to social skills. Do not let socially incompetent or inappropriate people rise cause they will ruin entire teams.
Image
Allianz Consulting is generally excellently regarded on the open market. Once you have been inside though, your perception unfortunately changes
Work-Life-Balance
Excellent home office opportunities, most projects are quite relaxed!
Karriere/Weiterbildung
You can move into different Allianz entities at better conditions, but mid/longterm development options within consulting are limited.
Gehalt/Benefits
Little flexibility or negotiation power
Arbeitsbedingungen
Office is mostly okay, although there are some hiccups (available seats, ventilation, etc.)
Kommunikation
Communication is often top-down, with little opportunities for bilateral
Gleichberechtigung
Good, even too good. Equality seems to be put above performance
Interessante Aufgaben
Often too surface level