Rio Tinto Alcan Reviews in Montreal, QC Area

Pros

Salary is great, safety culture is important, openess to new ideas, strong knowledge of their field. Also a great cafeteria!

Cons

Safety sometimes is taken over the top and approvals can be a bit tedious, but overall, it's a great place to work!

Advice to Senior Management

Reduce approvals to the bare minimum necessary and accept that some people are not as safety conscious as others in an office environment.

Pros

The salary is good. The pension plan is good. Working downtown is great. But overall, it was much better when it was Alcan rather Rio Tinto.

Cons

The transition period after the takeover has been poorly managed. Senior manager mere more focused on themselves rather than on the Company.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire newbies. They will bring a new energy to the Company.

Pros

The company has a great reputation in Montreal and Quebec generally (eg as a supporter of Bixi bikes, the Jazz Festival etc). It has a worldwide presence so employees have the chance to travel and work abroad. Salaries are good though this may change with the new ownership.

Cons

The company is no longer independent since being taken over by Rio Tinto in 2007. Some senior positions no longer exist and an employee wanting to make it to the top will have to leave Canada at some point in their career.

Advice to Senior Management

The loss of independence following the 2007 takeover will make it harder to hire and retain world class talent in the future.

Pros

First of all Rio Tinto Alcan is a very large corporation owned by Rio Tinto the second largest mining company in the world.
Career opportunities are good for qualified professionals as long as you are mobile.
Health, safety and the environment are truly a top priority and our main concern is that everybody goes back home healthy.
Work/Life balance is also high on the list.
Compensation varies a lot depending on the division you work for, from above average for the industry to below average in some cases.

Cons

The current world economic crisis has hit Rio Tinto very hard due to the 40 billion USD debt incurred when procuring Alcan Inc.
In order to deal with the crisis Rio has announced the curtailment of 14’000 jobs worldwide, bringing incertitude to its employees until the cuts are finally implemented throughout the organization with the expected negative impact in employee morale.

Advice to Senior Management

Complete the curtailment of operations as soom as possible in order to avoid an extended period of incertitude to employees. The worst thing for us is the incertitude if we will be affected or not by the cuts. The longer this incertitude exists, the larger the damage to morale.