Crain's Chicago Business Names West Monroe Partners One of the City's "20 Best Places to Work"

Chicago, IL – March 9, 2009 – West Monroe Partners, a full-service business and technology consultancy, today announced that it has been named one of Chicago’s “Best Places to Work” by Crain’s Chicago Business. West Monroe Partners placed 18th among the publication’s top 20 area workplaces. More than 150 companies applied for consideration in the 2009 ranking.

Crain’s Chicago Business cited West Monroe Partners’ culture as one of the company’s unique attributes. Like all West Monroe Partners offices, the Chicago practice maintains a highly participatory and collaborative culture marked by an open work environment, frequent employee meetings and gatherings, employee-developed and led clubs, and a strong commitment to serving the local community. Its innovative human resources practices and 100-percent employee ownership model enable people at all levels to contribute to the company’s direction and share in its results.

“People are our product, and focusing on the type of environment and experiences we offer our people translates directly into the quality of service we deliver to our clients,” said Dean Fischer, president of West Monroe Partners and one of the company’s founders. “From the start, we have been rigorous about maintaining our culture, and the current environment makes this more important than ever. Like everyone else, we’re controlling costs, but will not compromise the workplace elements that foster our culture.”

This year’s “Best Places to Work” ranking noted five elements that all of the best workplaces have in common: a sense of purpose, transparency, opportunities for autonomy, customized benefits, and hope, or a sense of assurance about the organization’s future.

This is the fourth major human resources award and the second major Chicago-based award for West Monroe Partners, which began operations in 2002 in Chicago, today the company’s headquarters. In 2007, the company was named one of Consulting Magazine’s “Best Firms to Work For.” In addition, the National Association of Business Resources included West Monroe Partners on its list of Chicago’s “101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Seattle Business Monthly named the firm one of Seattle’s “Best Places to Work” in 2008.

The Crain’s Chicago Business 2009 “Best Places to Work” ranking was open to any business with 100 or more employees as of September 30, 2008, and located in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties. Valtera Corp., a Rolling Meadows-based employee and human resources consulting firm, surveyed both the applications and their employees. West Monroe Partners employees completed a 66-question engagement survey that evaluated factors such as fairness of pay, vacation time, relationships with management and co-workers, and other issues about the day-to-day workplace. Evaluators also interviewed Fischer extensively about the company’s culture.