India, March 19 -- A former Boston Consulting Group (BCG) employee has confirmed a widely acknowledged reality of the consulting world-long hours are the norm. Kelly He Sun, who spent six years at BCG, one of the world's most selective consulting firms with an acceptance rate lower than Harvard and MIT, revealed in a podcast with Gary Guo that she regularly worked 55 to 70 hours a week.

At her busiest, Kelly once worked 20 hours straight without a break. Her candid admission has reignited the debate over what constitutes an acceptable workload for employees.

New York-based Kelly, who was with BCG till 2024, revealed that she usually worked from 8 am till 9 pm. Mondays to Wednesdays were the busiest days of the week for her, but even on ...