Frequent flying as a consultant

[Journeyman]

I've been thinking about getting a job with one of the big consultancy firms and keen to learn about anyone's experiences with them especially as it relates to travel.

Were you (or someone you know) travelling to a client for 4 days and doing 1 day in the office for weeks on end? Was it a mix of domestic and international? Did you and everyone else there get LTP in record time?

And the surrounding issues... does the travel get so tiring that after a couple of years you'd pay to have some time at home with family? Do these firms make you work nights and weekends?

Interested in people's experiences, hopefully there will be some that can be shared.

Interesting question. Have travelled internationally on assignment for large companies for many years and for the last ten as a consultant based in QLD but travelling mainly to the Pacific,.

I'm of an age where I won't travel more than 5 hours in economy - and that's a stretch! If the client's policy don't support that and I'm getting well paid then I pay the difference and travel in J. Most companies are pretty reasonable so if you have to do two 3 hour sections to get to your assignment that should qualify for J.

I still enjoy travel as part of my work but not in Y which over the last 35 years has become increasingly unpleasant.

Just how I roll.

Good luck

 

[Babesofy]

I think whether you will enjoy the travelling also depends on what stage of your life you're at. If you dont have kids or family responsibilities it can be alot of fun!

I didnt have kids and no elderly parents to take care of back when I worked for one of the big 4s and then for a mutlinational corp. Both of which involved travel and it was party central, best time ever.

The Big 4 travel was really nothing to write home about, mostly regional areas and at most other capital cities which had less staffing eg Adelaide. But my colleagues were all young and fun and at same stage of life so lets just say my alcohol intake was at record highs during my consulting yrs

Travel at the multinational corp was mostly international and being based in Aust means I flew J almost exclusively (except some intra America/Asia flights that was in Y). I had really fun colleagues, went to international destinations I wouldn't have gone otherwise, flying/eating/drinking on the company card, it was all round good fun.

I could not do it now with my family commitments, but if I had my time again, I would do it all over again.

Consulting experience usually looks good on CV so assuming you dont have much family commitments, I say go do it for a few yrs and leave when you get sick of it

 

[Tallfont]

Just on twenty years "on the road" here. Not working for the "big four" but multinational IT companies.
My travel has been between Perth and NZ and PNG in the main but also several long stints around Asia.
Most of the travel has also been with a "base" in the country I was working in such as an apartment, and sometimes a vehicle, that was kept even when I wasn't there which made things slightly easier. Far better than hopping between hotel rooms also makes it easier travelling between countries with just a laptop bag!

My experience is the first thing that gets negotiated out of any new client contract is J travel. It's just the way it is.

Have I enjoyed it? Hell yes! Would I have preferred to have stayed in my previous government job for those twenty years? No way! I have seen and experienced some amazing things, quite often with the company or the client paying! The perks have been great in such things as FF and accomodation points. The trips with Mrs Tallfont that have been funded, in the main, using some of those points have been great experiences.

But there is a downside. Missing a lot my children growing up, graduations, birthdays....the list goes on. Quite often you cannot get the company to arrange projects around your requirements! Then there is the catching a taxi to the airport at 10pm on a Sunday night to get the "red-eye" across the country, followed by another flight the next day! I sure don't miss that.

I was doing this up until March this year when of course COVID-19 became very real and borders were starting to close. I made it back to Perth just in time to do my 14 days at home. I haven't been on an aircraft since (although I did get a QF bar cart to remember some of it! ) Very happy working remotely now with the occasional Zoom meeting thrown in to keep some normality going!

Back to the OP questions.
Travel does get tiring and sometimes you wish you weren't having to do it however my experience is you work around it. You would probably soon work out if you like it or not.
As mentioned I have seen and experienced some amazing things and also met some great people and made some lifelong friends.
With regards the "big four" not having worked for them I cannot say much about the out of hours work. I do have several friends that work or have worked for them and, without fail, they all say that they work long hours and it's pretty high pressure. Too old for that these days!

Hope it all works out for you. It can be "living the dream" if you do it right.

 

[BJReplay]

Does travel

And the surrounding issues... does the travel get so tiring that after a couple of years you'd pay to have some time at home with family? Do these firms make you work nights and weekends?

Yeah, it does. This year 37 days away, before it all ground to a halt, and my rules for next year will change (again) as a result of WFH since late Feb.

For a few years, I was average 150-160 nights away from home and given that there are only 184 mid-week nights a year (excluding annual leave and public holidays), that's a fair bit of time away from home.

More recently it was down to what I felt was more reasonable 100-120 nights.

I didn't work for a consulting company, but on an internal consulting role. In the last few years, I had the seniority and specific skills to allow me to agree the travel policy that I'd be happy to travel under - different from the official policy.

Official policy was PE for long haul, but I asked for (not in a DYKWIA way) and got J, or a day of recovery time at either end. Usually, it made more sense for them to fly me J and I'd be do a full day on arrival into Europe early in the morning, or arrive into the US late afternoon and be at work that afternoon, and the following day.

I said that I would travel on weekends if I got them back as extra leave days, otherwise I'd travel on work days. I'd then fly out daytime Monday, and would be at work on the plane for at least 8 hours (company paid for connectivity).

And, for domestic travel, I'd either travel evening before, or "gentlemen's hours" - a 10am flight, which meant leaving home around 8am, rather than 4 am.

The recognition from the company I work for that travel is a significant imposition, and that I was travelling in order to be productive at the destination worked; I flew J (and would burn points to upgrade to F where possible), would hit the ground running, put in the typical double shifts (one shift at destination time, and another back in the hotel at home time), and have many times flown back from the US or the UK in F (upgraded on my points from J), landed in MEL early morning, and done a full productive day in the office (which also helps reset from jet lag).

 

[Flashback]

Does travel


Yeah, it does. This year 37 days away, before it all ground to a halt, and my rules for next year will change (again) as a result of WFH since late Feb.

For a few years, I was average 150-160 nights away from home and given that there are only 184 mid-week nights a year (excluding annual leave and public holidays), that's a fair bit of time away from home.

More recently it was down to what I felt was more reasonable 100-120 nights.

I didn't work for a consulting company, but on an internal consulting role. In the last few years, I had the seniority and specific skills to allow me to agree the travel policy that I'd be happy to travel under - different from the official policy.

Official policy was PE for long haul, but I asked for (not in a DYKWIA way) and got J, or a day of recovery time at either end. Usually, it made more sense for them to fly me J and I'd be do a full day on arrival into Europe early in the morning, or arrive into the US late afternoon and be at work that afternoon, and the following day.

I said that I would travel on weekends if I got them back as extra leave days, otherwise I'd travel on work days. I'd then fly out daytime Monday, and would be at work on the plane for at least 8 hours (company paid for connectivity).

And, for domestic travel, I'd either travel evening before, or "gentlemen's hours" - a 10am flight, which meant leaving home around 8am, rather than 4 am.

The recognition from the company I work for that travel is a significant imposition, and that I was travelling in order to be productive at the destination worked; I flew J (and would burn points to upgrade to F where possible), would hit the ground running, put in the typical double shifts (one shift at destination time, and another back in the hotel at home time), and have many times flown back from the US or the UK in F (upgraded on my points from J), landed in MEL early morning, and done a full productive day in the office (which also helps reset from jet lag).

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who tends to do double shifts when work travelling. Spent a lot of time in India last year and BA had just rolled out WiFi, so would always work on the plane there and back. Would then start the day IST and end up working through to the end of the GMT/BST day.

 

[PineappleSkip]

My consulting work has been with international development firms, all FIFO, generally each time a stint in a third world country of between 4 and 11 weeks. Staying in apartments or guest houses providdd by the contractor. Generally 4 or 5 such in a year, travel time typically 36-48 hours each way, depending on the contract time away between 120-250 days in a year.

Do I enjoy the travel? It is seventh heaven getting a glass of bubbly in J - or F - after 8 weeks working the chuff chart in Kabul.

I'm of an age where I won't travel more than 5 hours in economy - and that's a stretch! If the client's policy don't support that and I'm getting well paid then I pay the difference and travel in J.

I am the same. Except my Y max is generally 3 hours. Govt donors who mostly have a Y only policy, although the US mandated paid travel. The prime contractors were mostly flexible on choice of airline/flight. And if work travel the difference is likely tax deductible (this is not advice). Flew a lot with EK and got a satisfactory rate of opups to F, although that is mostly gone, alas, and the occasional point burning upgrade to F on QF.

Downside, not so much the workload as the timing. Plenty of drop everything urgent tasks, which always seem to fall in the middle of a holiday, on which I always carry my laptop. And zoom etc meetings at wierd hours.

Are there consultants or anyone outside C-suites and celebs who can get F written into their contract?

Yes! Have a friend who worked in a UK financial services firm whose travel policy was 'J or better'. Naturally he went for 'or better' if possible. Good if you can get it!

cheers skip

 

[Flashback]

Yes! Have a friend who worked in a UK financial services firm whose travel policy was 'J or better'. Naturally he went for 'or better' if possible. Good if you can get it!

cheers skip

I dare say those days are gone too, I've worked on several UK financial services projects in the last 5 years or so and even J for the higher ups is hard to come by these days. More common for long haul (overnight only, day time is Y+), but definitely not on short haul.

 

[flyingfan]

Thanks for all the observations, stories and comments I don't think I'd cope well with the high pressure and very long hours that were mentioned - I'm currently in a role that lets me largely switch off out of hours and perhaps that's something I mightn't sufficiently appreciate until I lose it.

My work travel (well before covid) was quite varied and international was almost always in J, without having to go straight to the office which was good. Doing the same city pairs for weeks or months on end might get old quickly for me. There's been a few times I've been delayed, either at the lounge or more likely onboard, and thought even CLPO weren't immune to this, and the more often you travel the more delays you'll have to deal with (obvs).

On the plus side I've really valued the chance to see different cultures and settings too.

 

[Beano]

Youv'e essentially got to like travelling and be prepared to travel out of work hours without extra pay, and perhaps do some work while travelling; what else is there to do on a plane. When I travel with my wife on holiday she would not take kindly to me working, which I have done, once working through a long connection interval in BA F lounge in LHR, but that would be unusual. At times like these I get restless if I am not working at least some of the time.

 

[pauleg]

Thanks for all the observations, stories and comments I don't think I'd cope well with the high pressure and very long hours that were mentioned - I'm currently in a role that lets me largely switch off out of hours and perhaps that's something I mightn't sufficiently appreciate until I lose it.

My work travel (well before covid) was quite varied and international was almost always in J, without having to go straight to the office which was good. Doing the same city pairs for weeks or months on end might get old quickly for me. There's been a few times I've been delayed, either at the lounge or more likely onboard, and thought even CLPO weren't immune to this, and the more often you travel the more delays you'll have to deal with (obvs).

On the plus side I've really valued the chance to see different cultures and settings too.

Nice reflections - I agree.