Considering the project-based nature of consulting, it’s nearly inevitable for a consultant to find him or herself between projects.  This time is traditionally referred to by the industry as being ‘on the bench’.  This week we will discuss what it means to a consultant to be on the bench and the various strategies for making the best of it and limiting one’s time in that status.

Is it good or bad to be on the bench?

That usually depends on the firm you work for, but in most cases it’s not a good thing for your consulting career.  In consulting, billable work is what you’re striving for.
If you’re on the bench – and I’ve also heard some in the consulting industry call it on the beach – either way, it means you’re not billable.
Now the general consensus that I’ve heard is that after a long hard project where you may have put in a lot of extra hours towards the end, being on the bench for a week or two is a welcome change in one’s environment.
You catch up on emails, go to lunch with a few peers and get a little rest.  But after about two weeks, you tend to get bored.  Most consultants are pretty driven people and sitting around all day without much to do is not a consultant’s idea of fun.
So it’s usually good for a short time, but will tend to get old after a short time.
Also, from a career aspect, most consulting firms evaluate you, at least in part, on your utilization, which is the number of hours you were billable over a year’s time.  If you spend a lot of time on the bench, that can count against you.

What happens when a consultant is on the bench?

Once again, it largely depends on the firm you work for.  But generally, you finish your project at your client and do all of your client-exit activities – you can refer to our Leaving the Client podcast we did a few weeks ago for what to do there.
But let’s say you roll off the client project on Friday.  Monday you’ll show up at your firm’s office and hopefully they’ll have a desk for you.
Many firms have downsized so much that folks on the bench are relegated to a work from home status.
Wherever they have you working, there’s usually someone to check in with.  There are a number of things they may have you doing.
Many firms have internal projects that they have their bench team work on.  In my experience with IT consulting, we’ve developed internal billing systems or systems for HR performance reviews.
This is an opportunity for the firm to get applications developed internally and to train their staff on new technologies at the same time.
If a firm has a project in mind for you but the client just isn’t ready to start, or hasn’t gotten financing approval, the firm may send you to training that is applicable to the project you’re earmarked for.
The bench is also used for new employees sometimes.  When a firm hires someone new, especially some that are right out of college, they have an orientation for them for a week or so.
Then they may have them on the bench to work on an internal project to teach them the firm’s methodologies.  This also acts as sort of a probationary test to see if they can do the job.  If it turns out the new employee can’t handle the job, it’s better to find out internally rather than in front of the client.
It’s generally been my experience that the bench is no fun.  As I mentioned, the first week or so is a nice change of pace, but then when there’s nothing to do, you begin chomping at the bit to do something interesting.
Even when you get assigned to an internal project, it’s rarely as challenging as a client project.
Consultants are competitive people too, and everyone knows that if you’re not billable, you’re not adding value to the firm.  It becomes sort of a stigma.  You picture people talking behind your back saying “Did you know that Lew’s been on the bench for a month now?â€
Being unassigned to a project is sort of like being unemp