- Ezra Gershanok was a business analyst at McKinsey & Company.
- He said the layoffs were forced as the company grapples with declining customer demand and overemployment.
- After McKinsey, Gershanok co-founded Ohana, a sublet startup backed by executives from Zillow and Airbnb.
This is a told conversation with Ezra Gershanok, former business analyst at McKinsey & Company and co-founder of sublet startup Ohana.
Simply put, I don't regret my time at McKinsey & Company.
Right out of college, I was hired as a Business Analyst, an entry-level consultant role for a company. I'm glad I had the opportunity. I appreciated the company's high expectations and learned a lot from my colleagues.
However, some aspects of my job frustrated me.
There was an expectation that everything needed to happen immediately. Even though I hadn't built anything, I always felt a sense of crisis. My work product was always a PowerPoint deck, and its biggest impact was making a good impression on the people who paid us to participate.
In such an environment, you quickly realize that everything is political. Your ability to work on good projects, and even your performance goals, comes down to how well you are liked by your co-workers. Everyone in the company is so good at their jobs that upper management ultimately builds teams of people they want to work with.
The company was clearly overemploying
My biggest problem was that McKinsey over-forecasted my workload.
I joined the company in June 2021 as one of the pandemic hires. I retired in March 2023.
During that time, McKinsey secured many government and private sector contracts and made large hires, assuming a stable workflow. Then interest rates started rising, companies started tightening their budgets, and some companies realized they could automate much of the work. Therefore, customer demand began to dry up.
For me, work started to slow down in late 2021 and into 2022. Some work at the company began to be considered superfluous. The pressure to cut staff was palpable.
McKinsey typically does not reduce its workforce. Instead, you get rid of employees by underperforming them. But for entry-level employees, communication channels are less clear. So even if higher-ups are trying to get rid of you, you can still get positive feedback from the clients you work with and your direct manager.
And it's not a pleasant experience.
It would have been easier if they fired me.
I remember getting a call in mid-February 2023. The project I was working on that week was going pretty well, but it was in semiconductors, where hiring was very competitive. My associate partner called me out of the blue on Saturday and told me he would no longer be working on the project, even though I was scheduled to fly to Seattle to continue work on Monday. I received another call on Sunday and was told to speak to a senior partner about the possibility of returning to the project. But he flatly said it was impossible for me to return to this project.
I put a meeting on my calendar for a week later and was told that senior management would be in attendance and would decide my fate at the company. In the days leading up to the meeting, I kept receiving warnings that the meeting wouldn't go well and I should avoid it. I informed them of my refusal to resign before proceeding with the meeting.
I complained about my performance in a meeting, even though it was clear that the real reason they wanted to fire me was because the company overhired. It would have been easier to say “I'm firing you” or “I'm firing you.” Instead, they told me that the senior partners had met and decided that my next step was a “search.” I was paid her six weeks' salary and was also given a guidance counselor to help me find another role.
I could have resisted, but by then I was pretty frustrated with my job. My biggest complaint is that McKinsey preys on people who are insecure about their status. All the people the company employs are excellent people. We all want to do a good job, but let's be honest: What people care about more than money is making sure their boss is happy.
Life after McKinsey
By that time I was already thinking about solving another problem I had experienced as an intern: subletting. So my best friend, who was working at Apple at the time, quit his job, and he and I got down to business and started a new startup called Ohana.
Ohana bridges the gap between short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and long-term housing sites like Zillow. We offer an efficient way to sublease in New York. Ohana's average host saves him $5,969 per sublease, and last month found Ohana saved New Yorkers more than $238,000 in rent. The co-founder and former CEO of Zillow has also brought in powerful backers, including Spencer Rascoff and his former head of engineering at Airbnb, Surabhi Gupta.
I'm passionate about the work I'm doing. Looking back, the irony of my time at McKinsey is that while McKinsey always gave good advice to its clients, it itself was completely off the mark.
Are you a consultant in a demanding working environment? We'd love to hear from you. Contact reporter Lakshmi Varanasi. lvaranasi@businessinsider.com.
