P
ProHub
English 简体中文 繁體中文
BCG Medium Cost Reduction Operations

Met With Problems

#Non-profit
ProHub Comment

This is a structured cost-reduction case focused on HR department spending at a major cultural institution. The case tests the candidate's ability to identify cost drivers across different employee segments, calculate turnover expenses, and develop actionable recommendations while balancing cost savings against operational and employee satisfaction risks.

Estimated Time 27 minutes
Difficulty Medium
Source Darden
48 / 100
Your client is Amy Sherald, the Chief People Officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (“The Met”). Located in New York City, the Met is one of the world’s largest art museum with 250 gallery rooms and a collection of more than 2 million works of art. This mega-museum welcomes over 6 million visitors annually. Your client’s department reported unusually high human resources (HR) costs last year and has come under scrutiny by the Executive team and Board of Directors. Amy has hired your team to help her address this problem.

Clarifying Information

  1. What is the current structure of The Met’s staff? There are four main staff departments at the Met: 1) artistic, 2) security, 3) administrative and 4) executive. The artistic staff are salaried and responsible for the art collection. They decide what works of art to show each season. The security staff are hired on a part-time, hourly basis and are responsible for protecting the art 24/7. The administrative staff are salaried and work behind the scenes to ensure the museum operations run smoothly. The executive staff are the museums’ top leaders and includes C-suite staff.
  2. How does The Met hire staff? Your client uses a mix of online postings, direct referrals and occasionally hires an executive search firm. Amy describes the process as sourcing, interviewing, onboarding, retaining then turnover.
  3. Does the client have a specific goal? Not really. For now, the client wants to know where to focus and how to plan for cost reductions in the short term.
  4. How does The Met make money? The Met is a non-profit and generates revenue from government grants, donations and admission tickets. The client does not want your insight on improving these revenue streams.
Mock Interview
Interviewer

Your client is Amy Sherald, the Chief People Officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art ("The Met"). Located in New York City, the Met is one of the world's largest art museum with 250 gallery rooms and a collection of more than 2 million works of art. This mega-museum welcomes over 6 million visitors annually. Your client's department reported unusually high human resources (HR) costs last year and has come under scrutiny by the Executive team and Board of Directors. Amy has hired your team to help her address this problem.

You

Thanks. Before analyzing, I'd like to clarify a few key questions...

Interviewer

Good question. Let me provide some background information...

You

Based on this, I suggest analyzing from these dimensions...

AI Score
Structure Analysis Communication Business Sense Quantitative
Practicing...
Score coming soon
Practice this case with AI Mock Interview

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Chief People Officer seeks to address unusually high HR costs. The candidate must analyze turnover costs across four departments, identify which department drives the most expense, and recommend cost-reduction strategies with risk assessment.

Key Insights:

  1. Security department represents ~48% of total turnover costs ($1M of $2.09M) despite having the lowest per-person turnover cost ($5K)
  2. High turnover rate in security (16.67%) combined with large staff count (1,200) creates significant aggregate cost impact
  3. Staffing analysis reveals the Met is overstaffed by 200 security personnel, equivalent to the annual turnover number, suggesting opportunity to reduce headcount rather than fill vacancies
  4. Effective cost solutions must address both direct costs (recruitment, training) and indirect costs (lost productivity, morale decline) while maintaining operational safety
  5. Case emphasizes the importance of breaking down aggregate HR metrics by department type to identify true cost drivers and prioritize interventions