Pros

Many clients, a National Client Group that parcels out work for large, repeat clients, overall great variety of jobs so it rarely gets boring. All salaried employees go through their Project Management program and have access to certain other training programs through the intranet or conference calls/webinars and membership in professional organizations and networking is encouraged. Also, they are national, although most offices are small and have only certain service lines, which makes it somewhat difficult to transfer, but I have not heard of it being refused ever by an office with the same service lines (ie,environmental, construction services, geotechnical, etc). The pay is decent although salaried folks typically are are utilized more than hourly whenever possible. Hourly positions like techs can get lots of overtime, but it is balanced by periods of no hours or few hours. They do pay a good mileage rate ($0.585 cents per mile as of July 2008) if you have to use your own car, but at the larger offices this is largely discouraged or not allowed if company vehicles are available. They do also have direct billing accounts set up with La Quinta for overnight stays and many technical vendors, to reduce amounts you may have had to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed for. You can get benefits from day 1 if salaried, but you will be paying the full amount (3x what you will pay for med/dent/vision when you have been there 90 days). Useful if you need it fast. There are some very good people to work with in many of the offices. Shifting work between offices when possible to make up for slower periods is encouraged.

Cons

Horrible benefits in my experience in this field. $1,000 medical deductible per person per year with the standard insurance plan or reduced to $500 each if you get the more expensive premium option. $100 deductible per person for prescriptions. These do not include the $25-40 co-pays. Blue Cross will pay about 50% even if you haven't met your deductible and will count the remainder of each bill toward that person's deductible amount. So not bad in the short term, but expect to pay lots of medical bills (although they do have a FSA that I have not tried). They say they have a tuition reimbursement plan for salaried employees after you have been there for 1 year. It is a $1000 limit but that appears to be only on paper. When asked, management just says "I don't know" and that is as far as it goes. Also, use of vehicles for personal use is strictly forbidden. Most managers will allow it on a job basis (if you live closer to the job than the office) but even then they may require you to drive to the office. Currently, many people are getting fired, either due to a perception as expendible or because they were asked to switch to part-time and they refused. It does not seem to be a lean time, although management apparently feels otherwise. PSI does not seem to embrace technology in many cases, staying with the same, expensive (often old and of dubious functionality) equipment, rather than try more cost-effective, newer instruments and techniques. As with any company, however, there is a mix, there ARE fore-thinkers, but it does not seem that the management in general condones this.

Advice to Senior Management

Get better insurance or allow each region to seek their own rather than being stuck with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. Think outside the box, try new things. You are a big company, your employees just might appreciate it more. Also, this is 2008, not 1988, the DOS-based project set-up and billing programs need to go.