Professional Service Industries Reviews

Pros

National firm - Opportunity to move around country.

Cons

Corporate Vision is not always clear. Pay not equal to industry as a whole (A/E/C industry).

Advice to Senior Management

Open communications about long range planning will help employees better position themselves to succeeed within their respective departments.

Pros

Professionally speaking, PSI is a great place to figure out who you are. If one needs time off, it is granted with little if any discussion.

Cons

There is too much emphasis on profit and nowhere near enough on employees. Equipment to do work properly is not always provided.

Advice to Senior Management

Forget about the profits. Follow the rules and regulations of good business and the profits will take care of themselves. Give employees the same courtesy and respect that clients are given--provide employees with what they need to do their jobs properly and the work will get done more effeciently. Recognize and reward employees when they do well and don't just reprimand them for mistakes. Put all employees on salary and give them work to do in the slow times;this will lower the turnover costs considerably.

Pros

The management at PSI is very personal and understanding.

Cons

Not much room for advancement.

Advice to Senior Management

There is a hold on advancements and pay increases which makes me want to switch to another firm.

Pros

They do a wide variety of work and you can learn a lot.

Cons

The company is large and very very profit driven, not people driven.

Advice to Senior Management

It's tough times, I know you have to keep the client happy, but at what cost to your employees?

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.

Pros

As an intern, PSI has provided me with many opportunities to learn and gain experience in the engineering field. I have had exposure to many large and small-scale engineering projects and as a student, the company engineers have taken time to explain design concepts and answer questions that I have. The local office looks after their staff and there is a strong sense of belonging. As a large national company, PSI has a broad range of national clients that gives them a competitive advantage. Also, being a nationwide company, it could be easy to relocate to another office - I believe about 125 offices.

Cons

As a engineering tech, the pay is very low in comparison with other engineering intern positions, although I believe that PSI pay is inline with other companies in their field. As a tech, the computers available to field staff are very slow and often hand-me-downs from the managers. Even though I am one who values frugality, some testing companies provide there senior techs with a laptop for field use as well as fullsize trucks - useful on construction sites. While the smaller Rangers may be better on fuel, it is a bumpy ride onsite! Some of the certification exams are so easy that they border on time-wasting.

Advice to Senior Management

Take care to preserve and grow employee morale.