Pros
This is a public infrastructure civil engineering firm with its core being wastewater treatment engineering, municipal engineering, and transportation engineering. Other disciplines are informally regarded as support disciplines and are silently second-tier. Compensation is above-average. Base salary is middling but paid (straight 1:1) overtime and generous bonuses and profit sharing are available for those willing to put in the hours. Everyone starts with 2 weeks' vacation and 6 "sick days". After 7 years to a third week is granted and a prorated linear system grants more days up to a max of four weeks at 15 years (plus 6 sick days). High job security. Major economic downturns have been used to silently "trim the fat" a bit, but as a general rule there are no layoffs. Once you are in, you are in. Poor fits or underperformers are generally driven to leave the company on their own accord but this is extreme. The company leadership looks out for the company first so the company is successful and stable and will be around for a long time. No titles or specific roles allows you to grow in the direction you like; as long as you are willing to follow risk management guidelines (avoid high-risk ventures like dams). Company will pay for an employee's membership in one professional organization. Company is willing to reinvest in computers and the office infrastructure (new cubicles, renovations to kitchenette, fresh paint jobs and carpeting) so the physical work environment is quite good. Employees report to discipline coordinators, who report to the directors of operations. Discipline coordinators are close to their direct hires and most are thoughtful, hard-working leaders interested in helping their direct reports succeed. There is a potential to become a shareholder (the company is privately held) after enough years of service.
Cons
Company insists upon hiring straight out of college. This results in hires who are good culture fits staying for life, creating a solid employment base but a mid-level brain drain from employees naturally leaving after reaching fully vested status in 6 years. There is a large gap of numbers between new hires and long-timers. Those few mid-range employees (6-15 years) who stay find themselves saddled with a base engineering workload, while trying to grow into project management, while trying to maintain clients and expand sales, while also trying to train new hires. This lack of accessible staff results in limited opportunities for internal education and professional growth. Expounding the problem is a lack of support from leadership for external opportunities. Obtaining approval and funds for training or conferences is very difficult. A very flat power structure presumably allows access to leadership but provides very limited opportunities for advancement. Once roles are filled they likely will not open up until someone retires. Without a milestone to reach such as a title to earn, career progression and compensation can stagnate. Discipline coordinators are required to manage projects, perform engineering tasks, manage clients and sales, and guide their departments. They do their best but have too many direct reports and too many other responsibilities to be able to focus on leading and guiding their direct reports. Despite claims of leadership, individual achievement is not factored in to bonuses and raises (which are generally good across the board). Underachievers are rewarded at generally the same level as overachievers. No maternity leave or paternity leave. The running joke around the office is some of the older engineers didn't know their kids' names. It is not that bad anymore but that attitude lingers in the culture. Leadership and human resources are terrible at communication. Most communications from leadership consist of paper memos sorted into employee mailboxes by office production staff instead of emails. An open-door policy supposedly exists but communications have been on occasion outright ignored. Dress code is very rigid (shirt and tie, slacks, belt, polished shoes, neat grooming expected every single day for men), as are work hours. Only federally mandated holidays, one "floating" holiday around Christmas, and the afternoon of Good Friday are recognized. The company is extremely risk-averse so is reluctant to embrace change or innovation. If it worked well 15 years ago there is no reason to waste time or accept risk developing a better way. This makes the company strong and stable but slow and outdated, sometimes to the point of being embarrassingly behind industry trends. Top leadership and HR have enclosed offices but everyone else works in an open office plan. Company's COVID-19 response has been lukewarm. Hand sanitizer bottles added throughout building along with signage. No other infrastructure changes were implemented. Many employees do not wear masks unless explicitly forced to do so. Employees were reluctantly granted the ability to work remotely but most leadership staff remains on-site and the unspoken expectation remains for employees to be on-site.
