Why does Big 4 underpay their employees?

Context - Since Deloitte does not get a lot of projects, they bend over their knees in front of clients and do each and everything like literally peon, clerk jobs too if client asks them to. I was deployed at a client location 5 days a week and was not giving any specific work to do but was told "Jo client bole wo karna hai". Client was a 24 yr old kid earning 80% lesser than me. He used to hurl abuses in the office, on weekends and even behaved physically inappropriately at times. When I informed the manager, he was like " tumse client handle nahi hora". Even after raising it to HR, no action was taken and manager also got promotion inspite of being the one aware about everything and not stepping up. I was given way below appraisal than industry and company average and have been pushed aside by the company. Request help from the community to help me with any openings or jobs in product management role in your company for me to move out of this toxic environment

I was done with a very shit project team. The client is notorious, ask anyone in EY GDS about a telecom provider project near Manesar that everyone dreads. They make you work night shifts and literally have nothing to do there. I know people who game there all night. It is just the worst and my health was being affected. I am being paid < 10L by the way. So it was getting very toxic. I decided to ask my manager but he said that it is not possible right now. I asked my friends in other projects and I came to know that the only way to leave the project is to leave EY. I also came to know about someone who left EY to leave the project and rejoined EY to join another project. I am now done with EY. Who said that Big 4 is good? Only Boomers who think Big 4 has prestige ig because they pay peanuts.

Was always curious to know, what is this buzz all about.....

1. You’re not in Big 4 for the money early in your career. Your 20s should be spent laying the foundations of your career in your late 20s to early 40s. 2. Money will never be fantastic compared to industry. People aren’t paying Big 4s for expertise, they’re paying for temporary / agile resource allocation or because something requires external parties (e.g., external audit, independent reviews etc.). 3. You can absolutely succeed outside the Big 4, but YMMV. For every industry success story, there’s always someone who worked at a great company but got stuck playing musical chairs, screwed by a restructure, thrown under terrible leadership or just lacked that sweet serendipity that everyone needs to score that next promotion. The Big 4 by comparison provided structured training and career progression. The price you pay for this is money and work life balance. 4. Recruiters love ex big 4 hires just like why they love CAs. It’s a reliable stamp on someone’s CV to shows that someone’s gone through an appropriate level of professional training and professional experiences. For example when hiring an experienced senior / manager I’d be comfortable that they’d have experience coaching new staff, people managing, advising senior leaders or even navigating complex political environments. 5. Networking and its benefits are never felt immediately. The people who realise this too late are always the ones who get caught with their pants down in the middle of job interviews or complex matters at work. They often have no friends, peers or ex colleagues to turn to for advice or just as a general sounding board. You’ll realise just how many people you know in various companies/roles once you leave the Big 4.

Why do so many people work in the Big 4 given that you have to work so many hours and your work life balance doesn’t exist. Is having a Big 4 on your CV really worth all of that hassle and not having a life in your 20s? What about you guys? What are your personal reasons for staying with the big 4?

Working for a Big 4 company has been terrible. They don't care about work-life balance; they treat us like dirt. They think it's okay to work even when we're sick. I start early and finish late every day, and they say it's normal. If I log off before 7, they act like it's a crime, saying, "Even bosses work late, so why can't you?" They even expect us to work on weekends, like it's no big deal. There's no real teamwork; everything feels controlled. I end up with all the work. The bosses are just as bad; you can't talk to them about your problems. Even if you're struggling mentally, they want you to work 12 hours a day. And getting a day off? It's like winning the lottery. This job is ruining my mental health. I can't sleep at night worrying about going back to work the next day. They don't care about us; they just want us to work non-stop and forget about our personal lives.

Why working in Big4 is considered to be better... comparatively to other companies? Why working in big4 is a dream of many? Wat about other companies? Arent they good?

It would be easy to find out who I am if I say anything more but I have worked in cross-collaborative roles across my careers spanning multiple decades in Big4s. I have led several projects for Govt of India and Public Sector Organizations. Personally I have worked in multidisciplinary fields mostly in IT and Databases. I have recently worked in Solution designing and Enterprise Architecture for many large orgs. Most of this is Digital strategy for many offline first businesses. Ask me Anything!