Awful. - Assistant Project Engineer GHD Employee Review

1.0
1 Jan 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Not on the stock exchange like other large Engineering firms.

Cons

Top heavy management, and those sitting at the top "managing" don't even know how to manage. Lots of money spent on marketing, business development, and extra paper work with absolutely no results whatsoever. Those who are pulling in the work/money are the project engineers and technical staff, only to see it wasted by overhead and promotional knick-knacks, and extra admin time from all the extra forms we have to fill. The engineers/technical staff work extremely hard (50-60 hr work weeks) and management wants more. Many prominent staff who are well respected in their field of work have left within the last 3 years and there were absolutely no means of trying to keep them. Instead, they were cited as "not team players". Massive lay-offs at the financial year-end (May/June) with no notice to other staff; you'd be trying to contact the person about a project and then a day later you'd discovered they were let go. Your performance is based on your utilization (project bill out) and if it dips below 80% you can expect a pink-slip... everything is number based, in fact, you're nothing but a number. If your company is part of a merger/acquisition to GHD you will notice that GHD will protect their own staff, not your company's. Salary is extremely low... you can expect to be making $15K less than the Ontario average (as issued by the Professional Engineers of Ontario) and if your role has changed there is no increase. You'll be lucky to receive inflation. My advice to whoever is considering this firm, is to run... fast.

Explore other reviews about GHD

5.0
28 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Evolving with the times to best serve client needs. Investing in employee learning. Attracting high caliber talent.

Cons

Change can feel disruptive for some, but GHD is on a disciplined journey.

4.0
19 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great starting point as an internship, gives you good experience to the professional and consulting world, pay for an engineering intern is satisfactory. Values of the company and support from coworkers is appreciated. Seems to be a psychologically safe place to work and make mistakes. No noticeable workplace toxicity or politics. Everyone seems to be authentic and chill. Not noticing anyone keeping their heads down and received reports of satisfaction with work environment from coworkers. Exposure to a variety of projects, including field work experiences. Seems to be a solid resume builder.

Cons

Need to be pretty proactive for work. For me who enjoys having work to do, its kind of stressful. You have to take initiative in making your own plan. For someone who thrives in structure and needs a bit of help in planning, this is a struggle. Limited flexibility in doing a hybrid role (even though job description stated it was when I applied) For someone who is 42 mi from the office and with heavy traffic takes 1h 15 min to reach the office, its a struggle. But I understood that my commute time is longer than average when I took the position.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All