Michael Baker International Reviews

Pros

The management is pretty well organized and there is great opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration since all of the disciplines required for architecture are in the same building.

Cons

Expect to be spending long periods of time working and then you might have issues when it comes to approving overtime. There doesn’t appear to be any room or path for upward mobility unless you are well connected. Pay is average. From my perspective it seemed that raises were barely cost of living even for high performing employees at the bottom ranks. Bonuses seem to be non-existent except for a select few and maybe an occasional high performing employee. Even the highest performing employees get a joke for a bonus. They give you a check and then you have to pay 50% of that amount in taxes. In addition, this place seems to be dominated by white males. People with darker skin or a different background appear to have limited progression or get pushed out of the organization first when layoffs happen. Perhaps this is more related to the apparent nepotism where people who don’t seem very qualified are somehow able to get jobs or promotions because of who they know and who they are related to or friends with. I saw people get promoted over the heads of others who I thought were more qualified by any identifiable measure including competence, work ethic, titles, education, and years at the company. I also saw positions created for certain people to get hired when I think they would never have hired anyone else for an existing open position with the kind of background that person had. Their benefits are almost a joke at this point. Senior management is poor at negotiating with insurance companies, 401k providers, and pretty much any other service you will get through the company for a company of this size. In addition, sexual harassment was tolerated and the person who was guilty was sheltered even after repeated accusations and reports to H.R. of sexual harassment from various women at the company. What is worse is that the offender was sheltered by their superior until the person messed with a woman whose parent was higher up in the organization. Even then the superior was not disciplined at all. At that point the only action the company took was to “lay off” the offender. The superior then helped the offender get another job somewhere else.