Pros
For the most part, McKinstry hires good people. The company has a personality and attracts interesting and intelligent people. There’s a gym, wine bar, deli, and driving range in the Seattle office. Most employees in their 24 offices are impressive. The health insurance is too good for the profits the company pulls. In my early years the training options were abundant and cheap/free.
Cons
If you're considering a job here, you need to now that in 2015 they fell very short of their financial goals and therefore there are no bonuses and raises are capped at a very low percentage. This is unfortunately a pattern for the company. Even those offices and teams that performed exceptionally well and are basically floating the company financially will not receive any reward for their excellent work. • The “People First” Rumor. McKinstry is big on the idea that it’s a people-first company. This is true in terms of the benefits (and, as is the case with family-owned businesses, if you’re a friend or family member of the CEO). But for some reason this people-first always comes with the promise of outrageous bonuses and raises. At every “Fireside Chat” (quarterly presentations hosted by the CEO and President) the leadership talked about how if we just keep doing what we do everyone’s going to get rewarded financially this year. In addition to never witnessing this financial success, I was paid 20-40% less than roles in similar companies. I had some teammates who have never received even a cost of living raise and other teammates who were promoted to senior positions with no financial compensation whatsoever. In actuality, this is a “Company First” company, which could be sufficient by itself since it’s better to have a company that pays people rather than no company…but for some reason the promise of money above your salary is a focus of leadership’s messaging. • The “Blue Kool Aid” Issue. McKinstry is extremely political. There are strong egos throughout. Despite all the company surveys or Fireside Chats where the leadership evangelizes that feedback is important to them, the same cast of characters are making the same decisions. Those with dissenting opinions consistently lost their jobs. Of course some of these people would’ve been disrespectful or unprofessional in their delivery of criticism and would be justified in losing their job, but even those trusted few who have mastered the art of delivering feedback don’t have their ideas implemented and they usually lose authority to the biggest ego in the room. • It’s Hard to Work Here. The company, either intentionally or through its rightful support of autonomy, appears to reject any best practices or semblance of a justified business process. Work doesn’t get done because it should just get done (the client paid for it, after all), it gets done because of who you know, or who likes you, or who owed you a favor. Since their business software is usually woefully outdated, it’s hard to find information you need to do your job. You have to be a politician and a master problem-solver to complete even simple tasks. • The Complacency Issue. The company is entirely too slow to respond to declining profits. Each year I was there the same thing happened…the same repeat offenders never made any money, the same poor performers failed to perform, and the operating income came in too low to give bonuses and raises. The lack of action on management’s part makes it seem as though no one is actually willing to hold poor performers accountable. This is particularly frustrating to the teams who do consistently perform well because they do not get to keep their profits. It rolls up to company who pays itself and its owners first, and is then forced to withhold rewards from the general McKinstry population. • The Management Problem. McKinstry isn’t very good at recognizing management talent. If they’re promoting from within, they assume that if you’re good at your non-management job you’ll make a good manager. For the managers they hired from outside McKinstry, there is high turnover. I don’t know the exact reason these outside managers didn’t work out, but there was certainly a widespread disbelief that anyone ever thought these were good hires. Promoting from within could work if the company supported your growth specifically as a manager. There is no requirement for newly promoted managers to work on their people skills, their crucial conversation skills, setting expectations, budgeting skills, or any of the other skills a manager typically needs. The company simply promotes your peer to your manager, and now you’re all supposed to figure out how to handle that on your own. This is a particularly poor approach in a company of introverted engineers. • The Loudest = Smartest Issue. The non-engineering disciplines are consistently underfunded and at the whim of the loudest voice in the leadership. People with no marketing background whatsoever have the authority to tell the marketing team how to do their jobs. As evidenced in the actions of the company, it seems no one actually utilizes the advice from the few market analysis professionals. The IT team is regularly re-directed by whoever’s pissed off at the time. In my tenure there I saw several 360s. The most noticeable was how we were told we were too silo’d, so we made a big push for integration, only to be told to go back to silos. The plans change frequently and we did not meet most of the 5-year goals, which makes it feel like the company had any real plan to begin with. Upon my departure, there were another set of massive changes happening. • No Career Growth. The company is too flat for career growth, despite what the recruiting team will tell you. Even though McKinstry postures as more than your typical construction company, it certainly has the job roles of a traditional construction company. If you’re in construction you can move your way up from a project engineer to a program manager over the years, but that’s where you’ll stop unless you’re one of the politics-playing-chosen-ones. The non-project positions (“marketing,” finance and accounting, contracts, IT, etc.) do not offer any growth. The teams are too small to begin with and are consistently the first to face budget cuts. If you’re female, you should know that McKinstry’s leadership is entirely male except for one woman, despite their very touted effort to “attract and promote women.” There are only two female Business Development Managers across the company.