Stantec Reviews

Pros

Opportunity for advancement, lots of experienced people to assist in the development of career growth, competative salary, lots of offices for relocation possibilities

Cons

Benefits are a little lack luster, because of the size of the company and the rapid growth plan of the company, sometime feel like communications are lacking

Pros

In theory, Stantec should be a world-beater: one shop shopping for customers, you get to work on incredible projects, there are experts available to answer questions and bounce ideas off.

Benefits are as good or better than any other firm I've worked for; pay is market-competitive. If you're a young person and can curry favour , you can't beat it as a place to learn and advance.

Cons

To be fair, this review should be read in light of the fact I was fired after 5 years, with 30 years industry experience, so there is some bitterness. However, with time comes insight, and I'm in a much better place now. My only regret is that I didn't leave after 5 months.

As a publicly-traded company, the focus was 100% on short-term profitability. There was no consideration of "are we doing what's right for the customer?" or "are we producing a good product?". Policies were set by lawyers and made no sense in the marketplace.

Managers discouraged input and were openly hostile to ideas contrary to their own pre-conceived notions. The pressure and stress were incredible, with absolutely no management support or considerations. They definitely played favorites with work assignments, training, and bonuses.

To my review headline: I worked for a company that was taken over shortly after I joined. The new employees were made to feel like outsiders, to the extent that 3 years after acquisition all only 3 of 15 remained and after 5 years only 1 remains (I think).

Very little opportunity for meaningful development - the attitude seems to be that they will hire or buy their way into any market they want, rather than develop existing staff.

Advice to Senior Management

Cut through the layers and the politics - you have (or had) some really good people that have been turned off by short-term focus and petty politics.

Pros

Stantec has become a very large publicly traded consulting company with some talented people spread across North America. As a large employer there are job opportunities.

Cons

Much of the internal and external communication is corporate happy talk. The culture has been one of systematic acquisition and purging of less profitable work groups from the acquired firms. This has created many offices full of highly stressed and insecure workers doing what they can with limited or nonexistent information about the firms regional plans to meet often unattainable utilization goals. This is in part due to the weak economy but also to continually changing middle management necessary to placate the stream of acquired firms key personnel. This constant change makes stability difficult.

Advice to Senior Management

Understand that there is a long term unspoken negative side of acquisitions and downsizing. If employees believe they are simply replaceable cogs, many will replace their employer as soon as they are able and never be a good ambassador. if the focus continues be on short term revenue increases above all else, the majority of talented workers will continue to leave the company as soon as they are able. This is very possibly inevitable in a publicly traded firm.

Pros

A large variety of industries make up Stantec, giving you the opportunity to work with specialist outside your typical architecure firm.

Cons

The top 5:

1. You will be responsible to get your own work. Yes, EVERYONE. (minus the front desk)The management who used to do that will no longer be responsible for it. Your on your own brother.

2. Utilization. This number will be assigned to you on how directly billable you need to be. Fall below that number and you get a black dot. Seriously. Proposals dont count either.

3. Stantec's fees are very high for clients. Those clients you may have before the merger will find someone else.

4. Redtape. Its long, very long. In a crunch? Need something fixed or installed!? Take a number and wait. Stantec is a public company and is very regimented. If you have a 1 or 2 bosses now, expect 6 to 8.

5. Collaboration. Nope. If you need to have work performed outside your office (aka profit center), prepare to pay. You might as well out source to a 3rd party. Its probably cheaper and more rewarding.

Bonus comment: sorry, on a ripper. Obviously, I am un-happy with my aquisition. Stantec destroyed a very beautiful progressive firm for the short gain of the stockholders. Anything exciting about my work and my co-workers is all gone now. We went from 200 employees to 30 in just our office. Not because we are bad business people, BUT because we serviced our firm and other offices. Collaboration does not exist in Stantec. They will nickle and dime you to death. Forget Apple, you are now the GM of architecure.

Advice to Senior Management

Passion counts. Stop working so hard to not work. Your not fooling anyone

Pros

Easy access to professional resources, talented and dedicated employees, some remaining middle management that care about growth opportunities for staff and the work itself.

Cons

Strategic direction of growing through acquisitions rather than focusing on or developing core strengths to create organic growth can not possibly sustain long-term attraction from clients and investors. Unstable local leadership - everyone in it for themselves and previous owners leaving voluntary and involuntarily. Plus haven't won a major project in the last two years; innovation or ability to market is lacking.

Advice to Senior Management

Put some trust into your junior and professional design staff. They are the ones who can bring the company up to the level of your best competition.

Pros

Interoffice communication is pretty good at Stantec. They have a good (visual) business model and support this conceptually. There is good web-based technology to link offices and keep marketing, project team formation and financial information flowing.

Cons

The firm is not a progressive firm and is heavily top-down with little bottom-up information flow, though that is part of the official party line. This firm is managed quarterly, i.e. for short-term profits, like every other publicly traded firm. Sustainability is mentioned on their webpage, but it's not part of the corporate culture, rather an add-on.

Advice to Senior Management

Please consider deepening the sustainability culture and also adding lean thinking for design team integration. This is a major innovation that other large firms are making happen (CH2MHill) and even small firms are nimbly making this a major part of their culture to great advantage.

Pros

good morale and opportunity for professional growth

Cons

low salary but good benefits

Pros

Worker bees are friendly. My old office folks are nice.
My commute was easy
New collaborative tolols coming.
Pros are very thin

Cons

Pay is below national norms
They expect to loose 20% of staff every year
Your management sells put and are told "nothing wil change" and they are naive or vulnerable enough to believe it
Then the layoffs and pay cuts come.
Then the structure changes so design is second or third fiddle to profits
The stock market is short selling this stock because the business model of buying other firms cutting past the bone and then buying the next one doesn't work
It is run by a bully who the other leaders are afraid of (not the nice Canadian CEO)
They buy you for what you bring to them. It is a one way street. Our leaders are bailing out now that their agreements let them.
Time to get the resume out. Thank goodness the market is picking up

Advice to Senior Management

Stop buying companies and integrate what you have. Merging is not about launching change but the implementation of true integration.

Pros

I had the opportunity to work with some wonderful people. The benefits are acceptable. Its global position can provide opportunites and a signficant network

Cons

There seems to be a lack of employee valuation by upper management and few opportunities for advancement even when skill level and and immediate suppervisor recomendations warrent so.

Advice to Senior Management

When you send out e-mails that state that you value your employees and contribute to their success, have actions that promote those statements. While I had wonderful managers in my office, I felt extreemly unappreciated by the company as a whole which promted my departure.

Pros

They work on interesting projects.

Cons

A little too streamlined, sometimes.

Advice to Senior Management

Non-chargeable employees can still add to the bottom line.