HNTB Companies Reviews

Pros

The managers at HNTB will let you develop as much as you are willing to take initiative. You have the opportunity to work on some of the most innovative and largest projects in the country and with some of the best people. Compensation, benefits, and personal opportunities for growth are some of the best in the industry.

Cons

Depending on your manager, there may be a lack of communication or development. However, if you take initiative and talk to your manager about where you want your career to go, then you will be given these opportunities. In the recent past there have been some layoffs, but nothing out of line with what the rest of the industry (or any industry in the US) has experienced over the last few years during the Great Recession.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on the big picture, which is sustainable, profitable growth. Don't worry so much about TOJ and focus more on sales. Sales has a tendency to cure a lot of the problems where TOJ problems starts to arise.

Pros

Staff level and middle managers are very competent, salaries are comparatively good, Benefits are comparable to other firms, mid-level management is very good. Great bonus program for senior management. Company cell phones and vehicles.

Cons

Very High percentage of officers to staff (over 14%) TOJ requirements are over 92% for engineers and over 96% for field staff. Upper management's continued focus on Design Build contracts at the expense of other key disciplines is detrimental to the overall health of the firm. HNTB used to have a bonus program for the rank and file that could be initiated by the mid-level managers but that was eliminated 4 years ago when the bottom line became more important than the job satisfaction of the people. Office supplies have to be approved by upper management before they can be ordered. Several mid-level managers have left the firm in frustration and even the President of the company was let go for voicing his displeasure to the BoD.

Advice to Senior Management

Please, look in the mirror, your management style and corporate culture is strangling the life out of a once great company. Cronyism and selfish attitudes of managers are poisoning the corporate ladder. By pinching every red cent out of the bottom line you are taking the joy from the people who earn you the money.

Pros

I spent my formative professional years at this company. I got to cut my teeth on some great projects and work with some great people. I left the company with plenty of good take-aways and will always reflect on the excellent peers, devoted staff, and sometimes excellent leadership. Pay was always above average and recognition was high for many years.

Cons

This all changed in the past few years. As annual sales were sent over $1B, the taste for continued growth and success outweighed the need to maintain a pleasant work environment. Excessive incentives promoted cronyism and overall bad behaviors. Unfortunately more and more of the bad characters got promoted up the chain. It's too bad because the good ones end up leaving and continue the devaluation of the once prime A/E firm.

Advice to Senior Management

Let up a little on TOJ. Some of your greatest leaders have left - feeling the pressure of the need for billable hours - or were let go. Remember that your future leadership needs continued vision, creativity and insight. If you continue to penalize the low-billable, you will be left merely with the mechanics of a sweatshop - commoditizion at it's highest.

Pros

My co-workers are some of the brightest and most competent people, and are a pleasure to work with. Low- and middle- managers seem to recognize individual value.

Cons

Much of senior and sub-senior "leadership" is a serious threat to company viability. There is an extreme drought of company vision. At the very top, sure there is vision: 'make money'. Execution of that vision is extremely lacking, despite the best efforts of some sub-seniors who have the genuine interests of the company and its employees in mind. And that is the truly sad part - there are some extremely qualified and talented individuals in leadership that are thwarted by either competing political idealogies or an arrogant ignorance and lack of willingness to truly listen. It is terribly frustrating for those of us who are passionate about company success to see our *good* leaders be prevented from making meaningful, long-overdue changes. The only solution that I can see is for those senior leaders who have lost touch to leave. They are truly burying this otherwise excellent company. As an long-time employee, it genuinely depresses me to watch the degredation, and it is hard to imagine trying to outlast those who need to leave in order to enjoy a 'better day' at this company.

Advice to Senior Management

Please, please, please get with the program. Learn to differentiate between quality leaders by measuring their performance in terms other than earnings/sales numbers. You will lose excellent people, and worse (for you, not them), they will join your competitors...probably with a passion to bury you in their new company's success.

Pros

Potential to work on some of the better projects. Reasonably good resources, technology, etc. Personnel are good to work with.

Cons

This is an organization that churns through employees and managers as if they were a commodity. Hard to understand how yesterday's CEO, division president, or office leader is no longer suitable in any capacity. Staff are tossed aside to meet weekly numbers. Turnover is probably as high as any in the industry and too much of it is due to layoffs. This is not the company it was 10 years ago. Today the only concern is profitability. And yet, after a decade of 20% annual growth the company has the same number of emplyees it had in 2000. If you go to work here, keep your resume fresh, your options open, and pack light.

Advice to Senior Management

Give up the dogma and rhetoric. Walk around the floor and talk to the people who actually do the work. Stop talking about people being the most important asset and start believing it. Remember, every person you mistreat or fire could be a future, potential client. Few will miss the opportunity to not select you.

Pros

flexible hours, good pay, lots of smart people

Cons

long hours, too much focus on billable time

Pros

People who give HNTB poor marks have obviously never worked in this industry. HNTB is by far the best employer when it comes to design firms.

Cons

Too fast to adopt new tech. HNTB needs to really do a value add analysis before it invests in things that are pretty, flashy and costly.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't CHANGE for the sake of CHANGE. I am well aware that a certain people seem to pull new ideas out of thin air. Sometimes those new ideas need to stay in thin air.

Pros

Nice people. Interesting projects. Lots of lunches provided by company. Company cars. Lots of work when there was work. A lot of driving.

Cons

Got laid off due to not securing enough work. Large boss basically accused me of lying to him, and I still think he thinks I was lying, i.e. incident was never really resolved.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep it up your are doing a good job. Possibly consider doing more team oriented events and company functions when reasonable.

Pros

allows flexible timing, gives good benefits (health insurance and 401k match, enough paid time offs, good workbreakdown structure

Cons

Not much information trickles from the top management down to the employees. Seems the senior management is not interested in professional development of the employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees and just dont focus on the number though they are equally important

Pros

Work - life balance was excellent for the "middle of the day" doctor appt
Pay was competitive compared to similar positions
Management is good and supportive

Cons

Low office morale where I worked
Internet filters are so strict they hinder productive work
Had trouble maintaining senior engineers

Advice to Senior Management

Management should reduce the internet filters as they're frankly ridiculous and should try to retain their top talent so that younger engineers can learn.