Pros
Its not often I leave reviews for anything, but I do feel I owe it to other people to leave a review on this company. I like to think of myself as an intelligent and open-minded person but how I could fall for the lies that I was mis sold, I don’t know who I am more annoyed with, myself or the organisation. There is very little worse in life than being mis led or mis sold something. The culture is very strange. I think the company tries to live its values and engage with employees especially after covid, but something isn’t working. It could be the department I was in - with every company and organisation, the experience you have mostly is based on the business unit you are in, your line manager and the quality of work you are given. From the outside looking in, the technical and environmental teams seem to be having a good time, from speaking to other fairly new colleagues, there are a lot of people who aren’t, but they are too afraid to speak up. It’s easy to see why. Nearly everyone in management has been there 20 plus years and has never worked anywhere else in their careers! It feels very much the case of people are just promoted as they have been there the longest, not for any real leadership talent which is a shame and does happen in many organisations. In general, I found knowledge sharing a real issue, like people didn’t know how to pass on their knowledge / experience or they weren’t bothered to either. Confidence is built by competence and that is mostly a result of repetition of work. There is very little opportunity to do this here.
Cons
If you like a busy environment and enjoying learning / development, then this is not the place for you. I was so bored it really started to affect my mental health towards the end. I did meet some great people that I am still in touch with but at the same time I worked with some of the worst human beings, whom if I ever saw again, it would be too soon. There were times where I questioned my own sanity and reality, like was I imagining how bad the place really was. It was then I knew I had to get out. If you feel you have to take a job here, then research the consultancy industry first. There are some people who love it here but I find its mostly the status quo of male colleagues of a certain privileged background. I know this has the potential to sound bitter and angry, but it was my experience, and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. The colleague who I met before I started and told me that Stantec was ‘the best place they had ever worked at’ didn’t even speak to me when I handed in my notice and when I left - and I worked on their framework which I thought was appalling. No concern or humanity for others. Starting any new job is a risk at the end of the day, it is frustrating that it didn’t work out for me. In reality it set me back months on where I wanted to be and objectives in my personal life have been delayed as I expected to be settled in a new job and didn’t expect to start over again so soon. It would be good if I could help anyone else avoid making the same mistake or ending up in the same situation.