DIVERSITY RANKINGS

While consultants have traditionally scored their firms on overall Diversity, Vault added several new dimensions for 2023. This included rating their firms’ diversity in terms of minorities, women, peers with disabilities, veterans, and the LGBTQ+ community. Using a 1-10 scale, survey respondents focused on areas of “hiring, promoting, and mentoring.”

In these six dimensions, you’ll find six different firms leading the way. For individuals with disabilities, BPM Advisory earned the highest mark at 9.056. For military veterans, ScottMadden Management Consultants produced a 9.529, edging Bain and McKinsey by just .13 of a point. For the LGBTQ+ community, Bain & Company led the pack with a 9.595 score. Among women, Eagle Hill Consulting notched the highest score among all dimensions at 9.912 – and it barely edged out ghSMART at 9.909. When it comes to the best consulting firm for minorities, the Bridgespan Group was the leader in the field at 9.411. Overall, ghSMART posted the highest score for overall diversity at 9.327.

Among the MBB, the Boston Consulting Group ranked among the Top 5 in 5 of 6 diversity dimensions, topping out at #2 among the disabled. Survey respondents noted that the firm publishes an annual DE&I report to “promote accountability and transparency,” even tracking D&I in staffing to ensure teams remain diverse. Bain made Top 5 in 4 categories, while McKinsey could be found among the five-best in half of the dimensions.

Bain & Company also ranked 1st or 2nd in three dimensions, the best performance among any consulting firm. One Bain consultant noted that the firm had “pioneered” a number of diversity recruiting programs. Internally, diversity has long been a staple of the Bain culture adds another survey respondent.

“The firm has always had a robust set of affinity group programs (including adding disabilities) and they have been even bolder around a DE&I agenda including inclusion training and awareness and also recognition of Juneteenth and also commitments and investments in our communities.”

Like BCG, ghSMART ranked among the Top 5 in 5 dimensions. One reason: the personnel reflect the diversity of their communities and their clients according to one survey respondent “Over 50% of our consultants are women, including 53% of our partners. Over 35% of our team are diverse in some way (racial, ethnic, LGBTQ+, veterans, etc.) All of our committees have strong representation from all groups to ensure our leadership teams are diverse. Along with this, our highly transparent scorecards (job expectations) and compensation system apply equally to everyone, ensuring everybody has equal access to work and gets rewarded the same way. Our surveys with external benchmark providers tell us we are in the 95th percentile with respect to our DE&I practices.”

 

Diversity: Disabilities

1) BPM Advisory

2) Boston Consulting Group

3) Bain & Company

4) McKinsey & Company

5) ghSMART

 

Diversity: LGBTQ+

1) Bain & Company

2) ghSMART

3) Boston Consulting Group

4) The Bridgespan Group

5) Lifescience Dynamics

 

Diversity: Military Veterans

1) ScottMadden Management Consultants

2) Bain & Company

2) McKinsey & Company

4) Boston Consulting Group

5) ghSMART

 

Diversity: Race and Ethnicity

1) The Bridgespan Group

2) Lifescience Dynamics

3) BPM Advisory

4) The Poirier Group

5) Boston Consulting Group

 

Diversity: Women

1) Eagle Hill Consulting

2) ghSMART

3) The Bridgespan Group

4) Kx Advisors

5) Insigniam

 

Overall Diversity

1) ghSMART

2) Bain & Company

3) Boston Consulting Group

4) McKinsey & Company

5) BPM Advisory