Bechtel reviews

4.0

78% would recommend to a friend

(2,450 total reviews)
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Brendan Bechtel

90% approve of CEO

77% positive business outlook

Bechtel has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,450 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Bechtel employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Construction, Repair & Maintenance Services industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
4.0
Dec 24, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Generally: good overall compensation, good insurance, 9% 401k matching, PTO, etc... good coworkers and managers (mostly), very good safety oriented culture, fast paced work environment once the projects really get going. Private company that is very family oriented. Steady work and Bechtel tries to avoid lay offs as much as possible for people who are semi-flexible. In the home office: facilities have been much improved, good schedule for work-life balance (9/80 & flex time), short walk to The Galleria. In the field: excellent money as long as there is OT and per diem, good sense of teamwork and camaraderie on most projects.

Cons

Generally: dead weight spread in a very top-heavy organization. Experienced folks are quitting, gen X is getting passed over and young, inexperienced, hand-picked "talkers" are being fast tracked. Since this activity started, raises / promotions = little to nothing for the past 2+ years, bonuses have dwindled, and we have been struggling to win new work. HR Deployed reps are not trained properly. In the home office: has become an L1/H1B factory. Outsourcing engineering to India and China is ramping up. Some managers are severely lacking in people skills. Safety culture needs improvement. In the field: poor work/life balance, lots of hours & remote locations. Conditions for US jobs continue to decline. Depending on the project and trailer you're assigned to it can be a loud / dirty work environment. The young, "ivory tower" managers who look down their nose on construction people are ruining the dynamic of field jobs.

2.0
Apr 1, 2014

A former long-term employee now with some external perspective...

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Interesting work on some of the world's most important projects Widely respected name in the construction industry You feel you're doing important work with mostly talented people

Cons

Lack of respect for everyone outside of the most senior managers (PVPs and above with a few young LDP's who have family connections thrown in). Everyone else is treated like they can be repeatedly squeezed on benefits, salary, bonuses, and crappy assignments, because "hey you work for the greatest construction company in the world!" No longer an implicit culture of "give and take", where I as a worker will put in extra hours and travel over the weekend/holiday missing important family events, living away from home, etc., because my team and manager respect me and will help me through the rough patches of work slowdowns. It's become of matter of take, take, take, and when you pathetically ask for a little decency and understanding in return you're reminded that it's a job stupid, not a work family like you thought. There's a lot of heartache coming down the pipe for many extremely talented and hardworking people as the Power GBU follows downturns in work for Civil, M&M, and BSSI. It makes me sad because I really did love working for them.

2.0
Oct 4, 2017

I have had better experiences

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Yearly bonus typical Regular reviews Diverse culture International and domestic work... sometimes Available free training - online Established mechanism for your coworkers to recognise you for hard work.

Cons

You should know, this place has hurt my multiple decade career significantly more than it has helped. I only offer this so you know something about me as you read this. There are many happy and successful people at Bechtel, just ends up that I am not one of them at the moment. This pertains to my personal experience while attempting to become one of those people. If you are looking for advancement or just recognition and you depend on your hard work and dedication to predominantly speak this for you... you will more than likely be dissappointed, if you don't have a fairly well developed social game... this may not be the place for you. If you can attain a higher level Bechtel mentor to guide you, navigating Bechtel's social and political maze can be done without much knowledge, hard work or dedication. I have seen the perception of accomplishment take front seat to actual accomplishement on several occasions. I may be a little disgruntled but I think I am mainly just dissappointed. I aimed to high with my hopes and expectations and they moved the target low. Well, writing this has been therapeutic ☺ ... thanks for reading it.

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