The informal friendship culture within Dutch consultancy firms is not equally inclusive for everyone. After-work drinks, ski trips and other social activities are intended to bring colleagues closer together, but can instead leave some employees feeling excluded. This is the conclusion of new research involving VU researcher Onno Bouwmeester.
The researchers interviewed 37 consultants working at Dutch consultancy firms, around half of whom had a bicultural background. They examined how these consultants experience the informal workplace culture and what consequences this can have for their careers. According to Bouwmeester, this is particularly relevant now. “Consultancy is important to the Dutch economy and is a major employer of business graduates. Around 40 per cent of them move into a consultancy role after graduating, and this group is also becoming increasingly diverse.”
‘Work hard, play hard’ culture
Consultancy firms often present themselves as open and informal workplaces and encourage employees to spend a great deal of time with colleagues outside work as well. The interviews show that this friendship culture does not work equally well for everyone. “After-work drinks, parties and other company outings are an important part of the ‘work hard, play hard’ culture. These are precisely the kinds of occasions where consultants build informal relationships that may later prove important, for example when it comes to promotion,” says Bouwmeester.
Bicultural consultants are more likely to feel less at home in these settings, for instance because they prefer to keep work and private life more separate, or because alcohol plays a prominent role in social activities. “What we see above all is that inclusion and exclusion operate in very subtle ways. Everyday social habits help determine who easily becomes part of the group and who remains somewhat more on the margins,” says Bouwmeester.
Consequences for career progression
Bicultural consultants are not only more likely to feel less at home in this friendship culture; it can also affect their career progression. Informal contacts and networks play an important role in promotions within the consultancy sector. Social occasions such as after-work drinks can, for example, make it easier for consultants to meet a career sponsor, Bouwmeester explains. “These are influential managers or partners who speak up for an employee during performance reviews and promotion rounds. The environment is often structured in such a way that these kinds of social occasions provide opportunities to build relationships with career sponsors.”
For consultants from the majority group, such relationships often develop quite naturally. According to the researchers, this takes more effort for bicultural consultants, but also for women and consultants from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Bicultural consultants in particular have to balance standing out with fitting in: they need to make themselves visible in order to progress, while also aligning sufficiently with the dominant workplace culture. The researchers describe this as standing out while blending in. As a result, they may find it harder to build the informal relationships that can later prove important for their careers.
The importance of career sponsors
According to the researchers, coaches and mentors can play a more active role in helping bicultural consultants connect with career sponsors. Because these relationships can be important for promotion within consultancy, such support can make a real difference. Bouwmeester argues that separate programmes are not necessary and may even be stigmatising; instead, existing support can be better tailored to the barriers this group experiences.
A persistent workplace culture
According to Bouwmeester, consultancy firms are becoming increasingly successful at recruiting bicultural consultants. The challenge is therefore shifting from recruiting a more diverse workforce to ensuring that bicultural consultants also feel at home in the organisation and have equal opportunities to progress.
He also points to the persistence of the existing workplace culture. “The friendship culture within consultancy is still quite masculine and can sometimes resemble an extension of a traditional student culture, with lots of parties and alcohol. For people who identify less with that culture, it can have an exclusionary effect.”
Bouwmeester expects this could also have longer-term consequences for who remains in the sector and who progresses. “We have seen for some time that women are more likely to leave before reaching the most senior positions. We expect that a similar pattern could also emerge among bicultural consultants if this culture does not change.”
The paper, Bicultural professionals and their careers: Experiences with identity work in the friendship cultures of Dutch consultancies, was published in the academic journal German Journal of Human Resource Management. The other authors are Ilayda Önder (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and Irene Skovgaard-Smith (University of East Anglia).