First and foremost, what should be a great concern to you is that the manager of the geospatial department was incompetent and incapable of securing new contracts. The job was sold as a stable 7-year NGA contract. What was NOT told to me was the fact that it was only the opportunity for Lowe to bid on a multi-part contract, each one ranging from 6 months to 2 years. If you interview for this job, make sure you ask who the contract is with and how long there will actually be work, as 2 previous teams of 18 people were laid off in less than a year.
Now for the dirty laundry:
When I started, we had a two-year contract. My boss decided the only way for the project to be profitable was to higher as many low-salary employees as possible and get the contract that was supposed to take 2 years completed in 9 months. This would have been fine except that he was not able to secure any additional contracts and he was forced to lay off the ENTIRE department. This is the second time he has done this to his staff. If you take this job expect to be treated as an expendable resource that will get laid off when there is no longer work to be performed. When I discovered the rate that we were going through the contract and the impending lack of work, I decided to be proactive and offered to use some of my resources to help look for contracts. The manager took that as me gunning for his job and told me to stay in my lane.
The fact we ran out of work was not a surprise but the manager did nothing to ensure his staff had future work. In fact, he would frequently not even come into the office letting the team leads manage the department for him while he stayed home with his family or went on vacations. Despite this level of incompetency, this manager was promoted to being a full partner in the company. All Lowe cares about Is their bottom line.
At the time of my employment at Lowe Engineers, we were in the height of the pandemic. The administration purchased computers to allow us to work from home in the event of an outbreak in the office. This was fantastic and everyone was excited that the company was being proactive in protecting employee health. Unfortunately, when new cases hit the office management didn't implement the remote work policy, and the new desktops were left unused while covid spread in the office. The company stopped taking employee temperatures at the peak of the pandemic. Even when it was required, there was a double standard for management who did not have to perform temperature checks.
In addition to all of this, the salary that was being offered for this position was embarrassingly low. Lowe Engineers should be ashamed what they expect from the geospatial staff for the amount they were paying. I immediately found another job that offered double what Lowe was paying its geospatial staff.
You can do better.
