AECOM Reviews

Pros

AECOM at the Warrenville office always had a steady flow of work.

Cons

We were no longer given comp time when we were billable over 40 hours. Instead it was straight pay. I preferred the time off, personally.

Advice to Senior Management

The leadership is pretty good; however, some of the email correspondence from one of the secretaries was venty and passive aggressive. We were also required to do 15 minute monthly health and safety audits on coworkers while they performed duties in the office- which was awkward. Overall all, it was a good choice.

Pros

The people in the local office are well versed in their specific knowledge bases; large pool of resources within the company; technical groups within the company have been very helpful and knowledgable; local management understands the challenges of working within the horrible corporate systems. In effect - the people make it possible to put up with the corporate madness.

Cons

Horrible corporate systems for managing projects - too much focus on profit and not enough focus on client satisfaction and the actual engineering/geological/etc. work that we are paid to do. Overanalysis does not equal increased profit! I have very little confidence in corporate management.

Advice to Senior Management

To the corporate office - stop sending "brochure" like emails to employees. If you have to constantly
"sell" the benefits of the company to employees then you're not doing it right!

Pros

Big name helps to secure work

Cons

To big becoming dis functional and bureaucratic

Advice to Senior Management

Be braver, think outside the box, stop dumbing down

Pros

Very diverse group of people. good opprtunities to learn and work in internaitonal projects of high calliber

Cons

Too slow in promotion, less guidance from supervisor

Pros

Not too bad of a place to work, nice people, fairly competent leadership, good benefits

Cons

uses the good 'ole boy management style for promotions etc...
Unequal pay between departments

Pros

Large company allows flexibility. My office feels like a family.

Cons

Large size sometimes feels unweildy, but can offer exciting opportunities.

Pros

opportunities to work on important projects, very talented co-workers, compassionate local managers, excellent office location, support for attending conferences and professional development

Cons

project acounting system is very cumbersome, time card software is awful, regional management is not well connected to local offices, business lines are poorly integrated and sometimes competing

Advice to Senior Management

spend more time and effort on integrating cultures and business of business lines, reduce messaging on mega-project successes, appreciate diversity of viewpoints

Pros

Recognition, company overall ranking is good

Cons

awful project deadline will drive you crazy

Pros

Great people to work with day to day
Nice office space
I have been impressed by PDD regional management
Flexible schedules for some people (doesn't always work and depends on your supervisor and workload)

Cons

I think it really varies by office - my office is not very well-run and local management is not very good - I've heard better things about other offices
Very low morale - economic times are tough, but employees need better incentive to do good work than just being "lucky to even have a job"
Professional development opportunities exist, but they are very difficult for employees to access
The opportunity to work with other offices
Project management systems (APIC) and ISO are a nightmare for projects that don't have multi-million dollar contracts- cumbersome and take away from quality of work
Top heavy organization structure
Horrible workload management

Advice to Senior Management

Work on developing staff from within. Give someone and opportunity and build them up, and they will be more loyal. Fix APIC - it is too cumbersome for a project manager who is also doing technical work. Less focus on image, more focus on the quality of product and treating employees well.

Pros

Great bosses to work for, friendly, approachable, humane (just lucky or, company culture?)
Freedom in work
Free and relaxed atmosphere
Appreciation, even if not necessarily too explicit always
Opportunities and prospects. The company and leaders are ambitious to continue growth - good for working professionals

Cons

Island culture of working between business groups. Over / under utilization of resources in absence of a good synergy plan
Too expensive in cases of competitive bidding, it's sad to see interesting project opportunities gone because we are too dear
Very average salary / perks - not too attractive
Antiquated project management syste. It's a nightmare to find right drawings/ correspondences etc from an y useless network filing system
Annoying controls by support stuff (A/c, HR, admin). The support stuff seems more powerful and act as most important people around than project/ technical personnel

Advice to Senior Management

Nothing specific. Personally, I am thankful for providing a good workplace to pursue my professional aspirations and (limited) creative satisfactions. When I (had to) return from Australia and joined with you more than 2 years back, I thought in few months/ max a year, will cross the ditch again. It seems more likely now that I may spend rest of my professional career with the organization (had turned down quite a few lucrative offers, presented voluntarily, to go back to Oz). The appreciation and respect has been truly mutual. Thanks