Great people - Administration Wave International Employee Review

Wave Brisbane are located in a good office in Eagle street although the office itself looks cheap and tired - from entry into the shabby 'boardroom' and unpleasant seating area through to the ancient-looking and untidy/unkempt office environment. Some great engineers as with most consultancies, however refer to cons below.

As with another previous review on here which is spot on, Wave makes the usual money as fees are consistent with other consultancies however it is plainly evident (in the Brisbane office at least) that next to nothing is spent on the environment or in the systems and processes made available to assist in the work. The systems and processes are extremely poor compared to other similar consultancies and for this matter alone I would not recommend working there. However as with numerous previous reviews, Brisbane leadership is sorely lacking and this is evident in the poor environment, the poor systems and what is clearly an extremely poor client offering - it is a wonder Wave stays in business with the abysmal quality of deliverables. Even their colour scheme looks like a fruit salad and doesn't garner respect, as does their name which was chosen because of the unimaginably disingenuous reason that it was on the blade of one of the founder's pocketknives, a fact that appears to thought of a a proud heritage. So it is clear that profits are syphoned off for the shareholders and a significantly less portion channeled back in to the business compared with other better organisations, which results in a poor company, poor systems and procedures, poor software applications, poor 'rewards' and poor branding, all which smell of being 'cheap'. Totally agree with previous reviews in their assessment of workplace culture, Wave is bordering on 'toxic' fostered by a lazy, uncultured and behind-the-times leadership. I'll say no more. Wave has spent the last 2 years striving to ward off receivership due to it's first EPC project becoming a disaster (clearly due to many of the things mentioned above) and demonstrative of the inability of those in charge to fathom yet along deliver quality work. The disaster was entirely predictable and still management did nothing to avoid it, which is plain incompetent and those at the helm are still there which is egregious. Also significantly lacking (although touched on above with culture, environment etc.) is ethics, overbilling clients is rampant and it is a surprise that some major companies aren't monitoring their spends to ensure they are receiving what they are paying for. A company to avoid in my experience.

New CEO has great vision but needs to lead rather than do, and will need to remove stale/old people in order for the company to move in the direction of his vision

Wave Brisbane makes money primarily from fossil resources and predominantly from coal. There is no societal conscience and the company shamelessly ‘follows the money’ regardless of any existential impacts. Wave’s culture is prehistoric and reminiscent of a backwater Gladstone-esq one room outfit which is Wave's roots but clearly the company hasn't matured since its inception. It is common-place company culture to denigrate fellow employees, profanities in the office are common place as well, as is people in various states of dress - t-shirts, singlets even bare feet isn't uncommon. Brisbane Management have zero vision and zero ability to lead a team, everyone knows and jokes about the leader hiding all day or moving to another floor and then leaving. Leadership are unable to make decisions and appear powerless within the company, which is itself devoid of many things a proper business requires to run efficiently. An astute leader would address these. The company also misrepresented to clients constantly. The company needs to move current leadership on in order to achieve the goals they espouse, however this won't change until current leadership is changed. Core values are something written on the wall, and that’s as far as they go. In summary: The office is an office of individuals with no leadership. Management have favourites and tolerate a do nothing/zero accountability from them whilst expecting everyone else to carry the can. Who wants to work at a company with this kind of culture? To call it toxic would be a compliment. The office is also a revolving door of people and Wave is indifferent to coaching and mentorship, instead expecting everyone to perform 100% from day 1 in spite of the hurdles placed in front of them, which they are expected to solve too, With zero assistance. Public criticism of people is common place as is the management constantly gossiping and denigrating staff. Poor quality is also the norm, as is tardy employees doing what they want, deciding when they will work and if they will come in to the office and management is inept at doing anything about it other than constantly disparaging them with their peers, but again this example is set from above so who can blame them? Management routinely bully staff and this is laughed at, even rewarded and several have left as a direct result of bullying. The Brisbane office unfortunately is a poster-boy for toxic work culture: Core values are not adhered to in any way Workplace gossip runs rampant and degradation of employees is common and it’s often that particular individuals, or those that have fallen out of favour with certain people, are denigrated amongst their peers or in group chats or management meetings No initiatives in the workplace, the owners expect nay demand loyalty from employees but aren’t prepared to return the loyalty. I’ve heard conversations where it was discussed that individuals would be given the axe for not being loyal, for haven’t had interviews with other employers even as the company was downsizing and laying off people. Indeed public critiscism of employees is common place with no regard for the person, their standing within the company nor their reputation nor whether the criticism is even deserved. This of course is then proliferated within the company until it becomes ‘fact’ which is an extremely toxic workplace behaviour however it’s instigated by Executive Management downwards so is the norm for the office. Brisbane office is primarily fossil fuel focused and always will be. Management will tell you they’re all about green engineering and resources, but this is a blatant mis-truth, management clearly state they will aways be coal focused (I’m a coal man and always will be) so this is a misrepresentation in job position advertising and in company literature All in all, an unprofessional, toxic and unrewarding company to work for.