How do top consulting firms use people analytics and incentives to attract, retain and boost the performance of consultants

Details

Supervisors

Decaux, Loïc

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

enAs consulting firms face rising pressure to attract, retain, and develop talent, this thesis examines how top firms use people analytics and incentive systems to manage consultant performance, motivation, and retention. While people analytics has become a strategic priority in knowledge intensive firms, its concrete implementation and its interaction with incentives remain insufficiently documented empirically. This study addresses the question: “How do top consulting firms use people analytics and incentives to attract, retain, and boost the performance of consultants?” A qualitative, exploratory design was used, with nine respondents across Deloitte and PwC, spanning people analytics specialists, HR transformation consultants, managers, and junior consultants. Findings show that people analytics primarily acts as an informational intermediary within incentive systems: it structures decision inputs rather than automating decisions. Performance evaluation emerges as structured subjectivity, more standardized and comparable, yet still driven by managerial judgment. Project staffing appears as a highly influential but weakly governed incentive mechanism. The study also identifies a structural information asymmetry: junior consultants generate data without visibility on its use, reducing trust and triggering strategic behavior that can degrade data quality. Overall, effectiveness depends less on technical sophistication than on organizational conditions such as transparency, governance, managerial capability, and closing the feedback loop between data collection and visible action. These results offer practical guidance for firms seeking to strengthen analytics-driven talent management while preserving the human judgment and trust it relies on.