Abstract
Researchers have studied excessive work regimes and their consequences for employees in considerable detail, with a particular focus on professional service firms. The problem is that many viewed it through the lens of normative controls, such as elitist discourse, autonomy, identity regulation, and internalisation, with little attention paid to how these controls function in short- and long-term shifts in performance. This study examines the lived-in experiences of consultants from UK-based global firms, known for excessive work regimes, drawing on thirty in-depth interviews and qualitative diaries. The findings reveal three ways in which consultants navigate themselves after performance crises; they often do so within the same normative frameworks, thereby reinforcing the very culture they aim to escape. This study contributes to the literature on excessive work regimes and performance regulation by showing how and explaining why these cultures persist not only through external pressures but also through internalised, affective, and embodied practices that are reproduced, even in acts of apparent performance crises.