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Kelly He Sun, who spent six years at BCG, shares in a podcast with Gary Guo that she frequently clocked 55 to 70 hours a week.
The gruelling shift was due to a due diligence case, where consultants are expected to accomplish significant progress in a short period, says the a former employee of Boston Consulting Group in a podcast.
A former employee of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has reaffirmed a well-known truth about the consulting industry—long hours are the norm. Kelly He Sun, who spent six years at BCG, one of the world’s most competitive consulting firms with an acceptance rate lower than Harvard and MIT, shared in a podcast with Gary Guo that she frequently clocked 55 to 70 hours a week.
At her busiest, Kelly once worked a staggering 20-hour shift without a break. Her revelations have reignited discussions about what constitutes a reasonable workload.
Inside BCG’s Long Hours
Based in New York, Kelly worked at BCG until 2024 and described a typical day running from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays were particularly demanding, but even on Thursdays, she worked late into the evening.
She explained that while junior consultants might start at 8:30 or 9 a.m., managers often began earlier, sometimes as early as 7:30 a.m. They would work in the office until 6 or 7 p.m., take a short break for exercise and dinner, and then log back in to continue working from 9 p.m. to midnight.
A 20-Hour Workday
When asked about the longest stretch she worked without a break, Kelly recalled: “6 a.m. to 2 a.m.” The gruelling shift was due to a “due diligence case”, where consultants are expected to accomplish significant progress in a short period.
“I was on a due diligence case. Anyone who has ever worked in management consulting would understand you have to get a lot done in such a short amount of time. Every single day you’re supposed to make miles of progress,” she said.
Despite the exhausting 20-hour shift, Kelly had no time to recover. She had to work the next day—and the entire week—pushing herself purely on adrenaline. By Friday, she admitted she was “depleted.”
The Viral Reaction
A clip of her interview has gained traction on Instagram, prompting many professionals to share similar experiences.
“Worked at Deloitte Consulting for 4 years. I would regularly work from 8 a.m. to midnight. Looking back, it’s not a flex, it’s awful,” one Instagram user commented.
Another person added, “Life is too short to endure such bad work/life balance. Find another place to work. And believe me, the alternative is much better.”
In India, the issue of long working hours has been widely debated in recent years, with industry leaders coming under scrutiny for advocating 70-hour workweeks. Kelly’s account adds to the growing conversation about the sustainability of such intense work cultures.