Jacobs Engineering Reviews

Pros

Jacobs works for me because although I received training and guidance I was not micromanaged. I have some flexibility on my work hours and no one tell me how to do my job as long I am efficient. In my first month with the company I had a chance to have lunch with the global VP and meet a few other big shots. There is no routine and since we work with several projects at a time, everyday is different. I enjoy the challenge of running different jobs at once and co-workers are very friendly and helpful.

Cons

The paying is not great at my level. Another downside is that the company uses less technology than other similar business. I still like the experience I am getting here.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire more young talents.

Pros

Work Available in some sectors

Cons

Limited authorities and poor management execution

Advice to Senior Management

More open to employees

Pros

Flexible hours
Stock Profit sharing
Good office atmosphere
Reasonable benefits
Good salary

Cons

Disjointed management due to too many acquistions
Uneven IT support
At times, inadequate staffing

Advice to Senior Management

Local Senior Managers need to look more closely at what is causing a downturn in office morale: some people are overworked while others hang on without pulling their weight. Accountability needs to be applied across the board to managment and staff with clear and concise expectations and consequences. This means establishing realistic budgets with monitoring. If a project is underfunded don't make the employees carry the burden.

Pros

The people actually doing the work are mostly competent, internal training is good, compensation is average but you have to negotiate hard to get comparable compensation to others in the same position. The West Coast offices are generally well appointed and nicely decorated, good employee nights out, Benefit package is on par with other firms. Free lunch once a month!

Cons

The Boys Club is alive and well at Jacobs! (I'm a male) Jacobs is a very political environment where individuals must continually "go along to get along" and show unadulterated allegiance to the company or risk being ostracized. The management is more concerned with image versus substance and dissenting viewpoints expressed - even in the appropriate venues - are punished. If you are not one of the favored sons (even worse if you're a woman) you can count on being given low profile/high risk assignments and passed over for the choice opportunities even though your resume, qualifications and relationship with the client are best suited for the job. Management makes promises that they have no ability or intent to follow through on.

“People are our greatest asset” is the company mantra, yet I have recently seen contributing Sr. managers and long-term staff blindsided and let go while others with no potential to be billable and/or contribute to the growth and success of the firm or office remain to drain the bottom line. Regional managers whose offices are continually deep in the red are not held accountable for their failures but transferred to other regions while others are left to try and recover.

Figuratively speaking, backstabbing is commonplace and gossip abounds.

Benefit package costs the employee 15-30% more than other firms, PTO/Sick leave time is combined and they do not give more than 4 weeks to anyone regardless of experience.

Titles are more of a political award only and mean nothing as far as value to the company.

If the economy were better I'd be on down the road....

Advice to Senior Management

Look in the mirror if you truly want to see the root cause of the problems in the company. If people are really your greatest asset, then look beneath the glass ceiling and show the hard working people that they are valued. Hold your regional managers accountable for their performance and you will see who is really dragging the company down. Treat your employees like they matter, don’t just mouth the words.

Pros

I feel needed and appreciated at Jacobs. The pay is good, I get regular raises, and the management is very actively watching out for me. The contract I was on ran out and they carried me for about 6 months doing practically nothing until they found another position for me. There is a team of people who's specific job is to make sure that the employees have continuing employment from project to project, and another team who work dilligently to promote cooperation, participation, and communication between employees. There is a program called Beyond Zero, which means what if we had zero accidents but went beyond that and actively took care of each other. They are spending a LOT of money and time promoting us actively taking care of each other. I was skeptical at first, but it's actually working. The diverse work group is starting to feel like a team. The world wide management organization is starting to feel like a benevolent force rather than a numbers cruncher. I'm starting to believe the core value of "people are our greatest asset". They are doing a lot to make sure I don't look for a different job.

Cons

Much of the work is project work, which means that it will be completed and you will have a different project soon. This could be a con or a plus, depending... The medical benefits are not stellar. They are certainly adequate.

Advice to Senior Management

Thank you for all the hard work you are doing to keep us working for Jacobs. It seems to be paying off!

Pros

Everyone is treated with respect.

Cons

Benefits have cost more and salary has stayed the same, feels like penalty vs reward.

Advice to Senior Management

Take care of the little people, they carry you forward.

Pros

Flexi Time, good salary, early Friday finish. There are no other good reasons to work at Jacobs Engineering, they suck big time.

Cons

No communication, buying companies then taking jobs away, won't honour Jubilee Day this year.
40 hour working week. Everything needs to be billable, not good for admin staff/

Advice to Senior Management

Talk to the employees and let them know what is happening, alot of worried staff members. People are our greatest asset, absolute garbage!!!!!

Pros

flexible schedule and short commute

Cons

higher education degrees not recognized

Pros

The benefits are good, earned days off (every second friday for my schedule), free coffee, very active social club, social atmosphere,

Cons

No human resources in the office I worked in which made raising any issues within the department tricky. The computers are so slow that I am at a loss as to why they have not been replaced to increase productivity. There I.T. assistance is slim to nil.

Advice to Senior Management

Project leads should be approving timesheets for their team and at the very least need to be provided with a copy of the timesheets to review. This makes the employees under the lead more accountable.

When an employee speaks to his/her department manager about an issue within the team; the manager should follow through on what was discussed as opposed to doing the opposite and creating an uncomfortable workplace for all of the employees involved.

Pros

Good work life balance, flexible working hours, great training available although you have to push for it, prestigious company, some interesting projects, generally friendly and competent middle management, starting salary above average, some offices have a positive atmosphere, many extremely competent and helpful professionals.

Cons

Laughable or no pay rises, ridiculous corporate activities, management powerless to punish unprofessional behaviour and laziness, poor feedback from line managers, unsatisfactory IT equipment, HR totally incompetent much like everywhere else, some offices deadly quiet.
You can easily be pigeon holed by management and subsequently bored TO DEATH.
There is no structured communication from senior management about the state of the business so redundancies seem to come out of the blue. Beware that your loyalty means nothing.

Advice to Senior Management

Tell us how the business is doing in reality and share feedback from clients with the people who actually did most of the work. Fire people for incompetence rather than hide behind redundancies. Stop tolerating unprofessional behaviour. Simplify the management structure, nobody understands it including the people who are part of it. Introduce bonuses to reward hard workers, not just the managers.