Pros
Great place for an unending supply of varied work experiences. Every day can be something different, or it can be a normal routine, a great deal of that is up to you and your ability to communicate with your supervisors and project managers. Management cares about you as a person, not just an employee. I've never had a vacation request denied, and some of them were given on very short notice. My supervisors have always been accommodating to leaving work due to family emergency (not just the human family, but furry family as well (yes, I've been allowed to leave early to take my dog or cat to the vet)). The directors honestly care about employee morale and make an effort to improve it. Over the past summer they bought us a basketball hoop, and recently a ping pong table. It's true, some employees (current and former) will find a way to only see the negatives, but the work environment here is positive and always open to comment and suggestions. It's not a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease, it's more a case of the wheel knowing how to communicate and ask for the grease they need/want to make the cart move better as a whole. (the difference is in 'asking/conversing with' and not just 'complaining'). Working long hours are not the norm here, some people choose to work longer hours but I've never felt the need to. I leave every day at 5 o clock except on rare occasions when a project is due and needs to be completed on time. I choose to come in early, arriving daily between 7am and 7:30am, but no one has said anything when I show up late, like today (I had a late night and didn't get in to the office this morning until 8:45am, no one even batted an eye, just business as usual). Bottom line seems to be, if you work hard and get things done in a timely manner no one will be on your back about when to get here and when to leave. Field work has just as many short days as long ones, maybe even more if you're competent and know how to get your job done correctly and efficiently. In fact, I look forward to the days I get to spend in the field (not a requirement if you're not the field work kind of person). When I'm in the field I get to be the face of the company to current and prospective clients. And while in the past billable hours seemed to be a stressed point, they are not so much anymore. But who can blame the desire to have every employee billable, it's literally how we make money as a company. If you find yourself light on work there are many project managers who would be happy to help you find work, not to mention talking to your supervisor goes a long way in staying billable. Bonuses are given out based on a spectrum of work requirements/skills. For example, and this list is by no means exhaustive: continuing employee skill training, billable hours reached, no negative feedback from clients, good working relationships with fellow employees, are you an active member in a professional organization, do you follow the QA/QC protocols set forth by the company, etc... I receive good bonuses and truth be told I've only hit the billable hours bonus once during this current year. In other words, it's not the end all be all of deciding a bonus, and I've not once been lectured or threatened for not hitting the billable goal. There have been many new vehicles added to the fleet, and the old ones receive regular care and maintenance. The company gives me the option to use my personal vehicle for work, which I love. For many years I used the company vehicles, and aside from a few hot summer days when the smell of many sweaty drivers using the same plush seats made me roll the windows down and air the poor truck out, the trucks are sound vehicles and kept in good shape. Just like many other things here, if you see a problem, let fleet supervisor know and it will be taken care of. I don't mind using my personal vehicle for work, and bill my mileage .I like having my own work truck that I don't have to share. I paid for heated leather seats and by golly I want to use them! There are many more pros to working here than cons, most of the cons are a reflection of the employee and not the company.
Cons
Most of the cons I can come up with aren't exactly fair to post because they don't speak ill of the company, but of myself (or is it my selfishness?). But here goes... I have a long commute, over an hour each way, so I could think of this as a con, but i knew where I lived and I knew where the company was before I took the job. So that ones on me. I would like a few work from home days. I do have the freedom to work from home on snow days, and if i'm spending time in the field or have a doctor's appointment and don't want waste time driving back to the office, so it's not like I can't work from home. Just no official "work from home" days. We don't have an official tacos Tuesday for lunch? Does that count as a con? Honestly, the only real con I can come up with is sometimes we hire employees who on the surface seem like real winners, but they are not. Eventually they either learn to change their poor attitudes, or they move on. I'm not sure this counts as a real con, but like I said, this place is a solid working environment with a real desire and drive to continue the good work, and change anything we can to make it better.