In or out of the game? Exploring the perseverance of female managers leaving consultancy and its implications

In the Big 4 accountancy/consultancy firms, many female consultants leave their organization at the (senior) management level. Based on 31 in-depth interviews with Dutch consultants and alumni consultants at various senior levels, we analyzed the main reasons why women leave before reaching the top of the organization, the so-called ‘leaking pipeline’. We found two main reasons for female consultants to drop out. First, at manager level, consultants are required to change their role and skillset, such as increasing their internal visibility (presenteeism) by self-promotion, strategies that evidently suit male consultants better, while secondly, the transition to a management function often coincides with a phase in which women start to have children. Since that period often coincides with reaching the function of (senior) manager, more women than men decide to leave the consultancy organizations, because they are not able to balance their work–life with further career progress. These outcomes are not new by themselves, but highlight once again the persistence of the promotion game, based on impression management and visibility. But what is new is that we discuss our findings critically, reflecting and contrasting this promotion game with the current needs of millennials with respect to work, career, and work–life balance. If this generation is not interested in ‘playing this game’, it means that the current HR policy of Big 4 accountancy/consultancy firms is obsolete. We propose a number of new approaches to reflect and reconsider this persistent problem.