Kiewit Power Constructors Reviews

Pros

Great people. Knowledgable management. Good opportunities for education.

Cons

Work can be slow however this was during a period of economic distress in the industry.

Pros

They do spend a lot of money and time on training. There is no shortage of work with Kiewit and you have the chance to work all over.

Cons

They do not pay overtime. It's 40 hours of work for 70 hours of work. The stock program they offer cause a cut throut culture. People get thrown under the bus everyday

Advice to Senior Management

Stop moving people into positions they're not ready for. Start making upper management accountable for their mistakes. Start looking at ways to advance the company and stop think they are the best at everything

Pros

For those who are willing to work hard and work long hours there is a lot of opportunity in the company to move up quickly and be compensated accordingly. Compensation is performance based, there are some very young individuals in the company who are already project managers and very well paid.

Cons

You have to make some pretty large sacrifices to work for Kiewit. You will be required to move on average once every couple years. The hours are very long, 11-12 hour days are average on a jobsite, you will sometime have to work more, weekends also. Retention rate within the company is horrible, most new hires don't last more than 3-4 years before getting burned out and finding something else.

Advice to Senior Management

Management needs to lead by example with reducing the work hours. The work is very exiting and challenging, but the lack of work/life balance makes it hard to sustain the kiewit way of life. They need to either hire more employees to cover the work load or reduce the amount of paperwork that is required. There have been times when I have worked as many as 80-90 hours in a week with no overtime pay, I would have a hard time believing this isnt breaking some kind of labor law.

Pros

Long term benefits (stock options) are good if you can put up with it long enough you will be a millionare. Health plans and 401K match are great. Great company for single people.

Cons

No personal time. Work 7 days a week sometimes 12 hours a day. This would be fine if you were getting paid by the hour. Dont try it if you have a family. Kiewit has caused more divorces than affairs have.

Advice to Senior Management

Give a little more support/training to the people that still need guidance in the company. Look more closely at who is in charge at projects.

Pros

Decent pay for first year employees out of college but you will earn it. Expect to work 60 hours plus in the field. If in the district office then plenty of 50 hour weeks

Cons

Lots of unpaid overtime work. They have over hired so it's going to be hard to move up quickly in the company

Advice to Senior Management

Need to trim the fat of some of the bad hire mistakes they made. Need to be more upfront with employees about transfers.

Pros

Great opportunities for advancement and career development. Excellent mentoring from management. Positive work environment where people actually care about the company and look out for the well being of each other as opposed to most companies where people only care about their own paycheck. People here have a purpose.

Cons

The hours are longer than your average engineering job, but the day also starts earlier, so it doesn't seem as bad as it sounds. Company moves you around every once in awhile to new projects in different parts of north america, but does a good job in helping you do so in a financially beneficial manner.

Advice to Senior Management

Upper management could do a better job of informing its employees about upcoming projects and the impact they could have on relocation.

Pros

A good job to have for those who like a challenge. A lot of potential for quick career development. Quick learning curve. Management is very helpful in helping new hires get acquainted with their roles and responsibilities. Many different opportunities to learn all aspects of engineering, procuring, and constructing major power plants. Great compensation for recent college grads.

Cons

A lot of moving around all over North America. Long hours in the field. Hard to "settle" anywhere. Not a lot of notice when moving between projects. It is a large company so it takes a while to get to know the majority of the staff.

Advice to Senior Management

More communication between new hires and upper management. More notice and maybe even a choice of which project field engineers would like to go to if possible.

Pros

The company morale is great and there are amazing opportunities for advancement.

Cons

The amount of hours worked and the locations of some jobs can sometimes make one feel as if their life is based around their work only.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management is doing an excellent job. They are great at getting new jobs and are very concerned about personal safety at all jobsites. The management makes a very concerted effort to know all the employees.