Shaw Group Reviews

Pros

Projects were challenging. Fellow employees were great to work with w/ a positive work environment.

Cons

It was difficult to get assigned to projects. Project managers contact you & then cancel your part in the project. If you weren't on many projects, your annual review suffered negatively & if you had too much administrative time you were subject to layoff or termination. "Good old boy" philosophy within the company. A dysfunction between management and field personnel w/ poor communication between Shaw upper & lower mgt. Constructive criticism often not appreciated.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to what the field employees say and how these people make the project work. Involve them in proposals. Excessive time spent by project management on proposals & with the wheel constantly getting reinvented.

Pros

Job opportunities, travel, large projects that are discussed at the national and international level.

Cons

Young staff with too much responsibility, far lower pay than competitors, bad benefits, high stress and low recognition of effort.

Advice to Senior Management

Shaw has a large presence internationally, but has had so many growing pains in the last 10 years that the old systems no longer work. They are trying to fix this by hiring managers from other companies, but they just keep shifting which other EPC firm they are trying to imitate. First it was Duke Fluor Daniels, and now it is Bechtel. Stone and Webster had its own style that needs to return.

Pros

No question that The Shaw Group is going places, due to the boom in the U.S. energy sector. Engineers of all levels of experience can basically write their own ticket.

Cons

The Administrative Assistants and Executive Assistants report to many bosses. Their day-to-day taskmasters are the other employees of the teams to which they are assigned. However, the Manager of Administration, who has no idea of your job responsibilities in supporting your team, makes all decisions concerning your advancement, your salary, and your performance evaluation. Couple this with a criminal lack of training and job stability based solely on whether the Manager of Administration "likes" you or not, and your experience with this company may be a nightmare.

Advice to Senior Management

Administrative and Executive Assistants work directly for teams. Have the teams evaluate their performances or you will continue to lose quality Assistants.

Pros

Every other Friday off which is good. Pretty good people and the hierarchy doesn't feel too exaggerated.

Cons

Feel like a number a lot of the times.

Pros

9/80 work schedule, every other Friday off
15 minutes from home

Cons

Negative atmosphere because so many rumors, back-stabbing fake people, managers have no idea how negative it is to bring in other employees from different departments (no experience) who make ALOT more $$$ than most of the department, long hours will burn you out, admins are instructed to watch your coming and goings, NO TRAINING.

Advice to Senior Management

GET IT TOGETHER

Pros

Worldwide opportunities if you are willing to travel.

They paid me very well right out of college and trusted me with quite a bit of responsibility pretty quickly. This made me feel like they recognized my talents, which is nice.

People are nice and most are good about answering any "stupid" questions I have from lack of experience.

There are some very qualified and experienced people that have been "headhunted" from other companies, but it gives the impression that jumping from company to company is the way to move up.

Cons

Like most large engineering/construction companies, you have to be on a Project to stay on board. For example, 80% of my office got laid off in the two years since we haven't won a project.

401(k) is very weak compared to similar companies. They only match 50 cents on the dollar and you have to work 5 years to get 100% vested

Company feels publicly owned and impersonable.

Advice to Senior Management

I would recommend that they be more informative about future opportunities and projects, but when you aren't winning any, keeping employees in the dark is the only way to keep them... for awhile.

Try to keep away from risky lump sum jobs as much as you can. Billable jobs are the safe way to go.

Pros

The pay is above average and the benifts are very good considering the way others companies are today. Overall good company!

Cons

The hours can get long but inwhat job cant they. You are well taken care of but the the hours do take there toll on family so be prepared.

Pros

There is a lot of opportunity for job growth. The company is growing and a lot of the managers work hard to help you grow professionally.

Cons

The business seems to be very up and down and at times there is a good old boy mentality that can be frustrating.

Advice to Senior Management

Remember to always work hard to develop your younger staff and do not forget the senior staff who helped you get to the top.

Pros

Very professional image and very connected federal contractor.

Cons

Jim Bernhard has no committment to his employees and no vision of people management. He is a very shrewd business man. He places finance specialist in key HR roles for the purpose of controlling overhead associated with human capital managment. These FIN specialist have not passion around talent resources management principles. Promotions are not based on qualifications.

Advice to Senior Management

Transparancy is a must-have if you are to succeed into the future market place.

Pros

well-known company in the BR area

Cons

Every IT project they've implemented since I've been employeed, has gone through without any pilotting or true testing. There will always be bumps and snags to any go-live situation in IT, that's a given. However, Shaw IT either does not test thoroughly or at all on most projects and has caused lots of downtime and frustration of external departments on several occasions losing money from lost billable hours.

Advice to Senior Management

Get new Management. The current staff is too busy trying to make each other look good and not own up to mistakes that it's hurting the companies bottom line and their employees. They need to stand up and be accountable when a mistake is made instead of trying to make the mistake work to save face. They only end up with frustrated associates, clients, and poor functioning processes.