Great people and culture, but slow promotion process - Field Engineer Hood Construction Employee Review

Good working Enviromint for all people

can't think of one single reason to complain

The people that work there are good people. The benefits are really good here.

The culture is HORRIBLE. Especially in the field. They have clear values and culture that they preach. The problem is it’s completely imagined and abstract. They are not put into practice whatsoever, this includes the safety culture. You’re supposed to be a team, a family here. I heard the word family non stop, yet the environment here breeds toxic work behaviors that do the opposite. Superintendents putting down other superintendents to make themselves look better. And the relationship between office and field? Abysmal. It’s an “us vs them” environment and it is the reason why they have so many issues with communication. The last project I was on was a schedule and quality nightmare- office and field had no respect for each other and would butt heads constantly, field staff was in competition with each other instead of working together. This is a common theme on every site. It caused major schedule issues because they were so worried about whose is bigger that the real project related issues were getting overlooked till it came back and smacked them in the face. At the end of the day it negatively affected the client-they preach keeping the client at the forefront, but their team members don’t put it into practice. There is no clear career/role paths here. They do not have their roles defined nor do they make sure their staff understands their roles. This company’s biggest downfall is their communication. Upper management fails again and again at internal communications. You can also forget about a performance review- so you spend your entire time there not knowing where you stand. Townhall meetings are like show and tell- that’s all the meetings are. There is no growth plan, no action plan, their employees have no voice in the trajectory or structure of the company. Getting more projects and repeat clients does not mean your internal structure is healthy. All I heard from my coworkers is how tired they were, how this company has drained them, how this is just how it is and how they hate working here but they’ve been here so long it just doesn’t matter anymore. I just hear people who feel defeated and unheard, it’s really unfortunate. They do not celebrate the fact that everyone has something they can bring to the table. They struggle to adapt to change. And they’re VERY behind curve in regards to pay, they are not competitive. Last thing on culture? Two words: Boys. Club. If you’re not from the citadel, or go to church with the CEO, or associated with Hammond- you’re basically a nobody. And the employees know it, the superintendents say it, the laborers and foremen say it. It is what at least the entire field staff believes to be true. They also have questionable ethics. Lastly the safety culture here needs major work. The safety director is amazing at his job and is a perfect fit- the rest of the company is not on board with the safety culture that the director is trying to implement. PMs and Supers turning their heads at major safety issues for the sake of schedule is more than common. There is less than 5 superintendents there that actually enforce safety according to the company’s safety program. And I would say that is a consistent theme at this company. That there is certain literature, systems, programs in place- but their employees are not on the same page and it creates a major shift in between ideally what they stand for versus what actually happens behind the scenes. As I said though their structure, groundwork, and career paths/roles need major work- and I think it will definitely prevent them from being able to grow more on an internal level which will eventually bleed into their ability to contract work. Lastly work/life balance here is also crap. That’s all I really have to say, you can ask most people that work there will agree. A lot of overworked and underpaid staff. I would have to see a lot of work done in this company to recommend it to anyone- like I said the people that work here are good people, and the benefits package IS good. Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk.