Jacobs Engineering Reviews

Pros

Jacobs is the most gender neutral engineering/ construction company in the industry. And I have worked at a lot of them.
It is more entrepreneurial than most companies 1/10 it's size.

Cons

Some people have difficulty in a matrix organization.

Pros

Good pay compared to other engineering firms, 4 1/2 days of workweek- four 9-hr days and 1/2 day on Fridays. A little flexibility on work hours.

Cons

Management is not aware of other employees' activities while working, surfing the web, always on IM chat, favoritism common in all departments

Advice to Senior Management

Treat everybody equally, management mentioned equal percentage of raise across the board so everybody knew what it was, got called in for my raise- guess what- less than what everybody in my department got. This is after I was told about my good performance

Pros

Good pay and plenty of hours. On the larger projects, there are many tasks that need attention and it is easy to volunteer for the assignment if the tasks are challenging.

Cons

Most managers are just polititians trying to reach the next tier up and climb the Corporate Ladder on the backs of others below them. Management is largely clueless what goes on in the field.

Advice to Senior Management

Actually practice the "Core values" touted all the time, instead of lip syncing.

Pros

Salaried people can be paid OT.
They will make...some...effort to keep you when there's slack work.
Most of the workers are good people

Cons

Condescending management attitude
Considerable nepotism
Management strives to achieve zero credibility.
The most well defined dividing line between the haves and the have-nots. And they love to rub it in.

Advice to Senior Management

Your mouth won't crack if you told the truth for once. Employee benefits are an oxymoron.

Pros

experience - good teamwork - social relationships

Cons

hours long lasting in arriving to the place of work

Advice to Senior Management

increasing number of courses in all fields

Pros

Some good engineers at the senior staff level.

Cons

Only 6 holidays, 8 hours each per year. Very little paid time off , vacation time is combined with sick time and snow days, doctor visits etc. Workers work extra hours to take black Friday off, or any additional holiday weekends. Never a bonus. Billability is the only thing management is interested in. Management does not recognize technical talent.
Corporate Motto "Beyond Zero" is to minimize law suits, not because they are a "culture of caring".

Advice to Senior Management

Connect with your staff. Give bonuses.

Pros

Your take home pay tends to be above average and you will be able to work on some VERY interesting projects.

Cons

Almost no opportunities for advancement in the various IT departments. The management teams / personnel from new acquisitions are commonly the ones that take over available / new management positions. This has become a serious hindrance to employee moral the past few years.

Advice to Senior Management

Each office's senior management / individual office design disciplines have too much latitude on what CAD / Engineering technology they can implement as the office standard. This important decision is often left up to the personal preference of those who are unqualified to make these decisions and leads to fragmentation of support personnel, developed tool suites and employee skillets. Unless the client specifies a particular brand / version of the software in the contract Jacobs should have a corporate LOB tool suite that is the standard to be used for each common discipline and engineering activities. There should be very little room for flexibility in this. This would allow Jacobs to leverage the entire global resource pool and the use of software packages that allow/encourage work share would be mandatory instead of only being found in the larger offices. The smaller offices utilization of tool suites that do not allow for work share hinders their growth.

Pros

- good people to work with
- well known employer
- international assignments

Cons

- litte training
- occassional unreasonable manhours
- growth opportunities

Advice to Senior Management

- Good job of keeping the stock value
- Retain employees

Pros

Big name company, International presence

Cons

I agree with the other commentor that there needs to be better standards for the degrees and qualifications of top management.. Some business experience would help too. This company makes you feel like you are selling widgets instead of high level professional services.

Advice to Senior Management

Check with employees about the quality of managers and impediments to the business. Hold managers accountable for personel issues. Don't set yourself up for lawsuits.

Pros

high compensation. flex time. access to NASA facilities.

Cons

terrible management. no information. poor layoff practices.