Pros
- Good flexibility when it comes to work from home/office for many of the positions (doesn’t apply as much to field and some back office staff) - Relative freedom when it comes to daily schedule/when you work. - But there’s really only one thing that stands out as a reason to work here - the people. - The people you work with day-to-day, by and large, are great. They’re people you will enjoy working with on a personal level and truly appreciate working with them on a professional level. There are many experts to learn a great deal from and certainly friendships to be made. But the number of these people is decreasing.
Cons
- Full transparency - I admit my perspective here is biased and different than many who have only worked there a short time. This is because I started in the golden era of the company. Back when the founder still ran it. He was a phenomenal leader and person, and everything he did was for his people. He attracted the best of the best, empowered them to do their jobs, treated them with the utmost praise and respect, and rewarded their good work. Which resulted in a fantastic work life and company growth that’s hard to believe possible. It was simply the best place to work. All of that is now entirely gone. If you started here after he left, and never worked at a great company before here, “fine” is probably the way you’d describe it. And many of the cons below you probably expect. But if your standards and performance are high, these are things you need to know. - There is a significant lack of structure when it comes to resources and processes available to help you do your job better and more efficiently. And the structure that is there creates hurdles. - There is no incentive or reward for strong performance. Unless you’re “part of the club”, you can bring in a truckload of business and revenue far beyond what’s expected of you - but you should expect to get your 3% cost of living raise and the same low 4 figure year end bonus that you got last year. Nothing more. - No opportunity for ownership - unless you’re again, “part of the club”. If you’re offered stock though, you will reap significant returns. Employees often ask about stock opportunities during quarterly meetings and you get the same runaround “we’re definitely looking into that option”, but if the majority realized in detail exactly what they’re missing out on, they’d be a lot louder about wanting stock opportunities. But it’s a private equity owned company - so that’s not going to change. - I believe they claim profit sharing (not 100% certain on this one) as part of your 401k but across many years of supposedly record setting profit - I never saw a cent. - Extremely top heavy organization. There are too many people with big titles, salaries, and influence that bring little to no value. - Upward mobility is limited. With few exceptions are promotion opportunities available to you (sometimes they’ll “create a promotion” to appease people that they fear losing). New openings are likely going to be filled by someone outside the company. I say this as someone who managed to successfully climb a considerable ways and build a career - not as someone who feels personally slighted or biased. There were several of us that did so. But as the exceptions to the rule, we watched great people who were more than qualified get looked over for opportunities up the ladder. - All decisions are made at the top level. Directors and even some VPs have little power or authority. This wouldn’t be so bad if these decisions were made after consultation with the team leaders and employees that will be impacted. And it’s rarely a positive or benefit to the employees affected. - There is a lot of preaching being employee centric - but when it’s time to practice that, don’t hold your breath. The people you work with and for may value you, but from the eyes higher up - you’re a replaceable number that needs the company more than it needs you. It’s extremely frustrating but actually reaches the point of comical when you’re listening to one of the “town calls” and hear this message being spouted (and contradicted with the next breath) because within a few minutes, messages from colleagues will start flying making jokes about the irony and hypocrisy. - Senior Leadership is extremely out of touch about the employee morale and quality of life working here. Which is understandable, because if you’re hiring into the level they work at, you’re going to love working here. But if you’re hiring into the pool that makes up 90% of the total employees - you’ll be living a drastically different work life (I’ll make an exception here for field staff. It’s a different world because you’re not looking to climb the ladder, you’re not in a position to go above and beyond therefore don’t expect any reward for doing so, and you’re naturally disconnected from the office problems. Inspectors and flaggers live a fine work life here). - If you’re in that mid-level management/engineering/leadership and you’re valuable/performing, you’re eventually going to start asking for what you’ve earned, or you’ll go to a company that will reward you (and more importantly appreciate you). - Doing either of these things is going to make you a target. Regardless of whether or not there’s a non-compete in play. There are many higher ups that are respectable professionals who wouldn’t do this but unfortunately the few that will, sit at the very top. - Pushing for what you earned (even when they agree with you) is going to “put you on my radar and that’s not a place you want to be” as I was told by one Sr. VP. - And if you leave, assuming your reputation carries at least some weight or influence in the industry, they’re going to trash your reputation and be vindictive and malicious with you and your new employment. The higher up/more valuable you are, the worse it is. You will either need to retire, find a job outside the industry, or lawyer up.
