UK management is presiding over a mass exodus of talented staff who are fed up with Sweco's fixation on micromanaging style systems and processes.
Great emphasis is put on internal efficiency - this only exists in back office activities because tasks get delegated down the chain to further burden technical staff.
Great performing teams get split up as soon as they reach 8-16 headcount. Wrecks team dynamic.
There is a lack of trust with very low thresholds on delegation of authority. Come on guys, we're professional, well qualified adults with years of experience. Don't treat staff like children.
We lost clients because legal was lethargic, unhelpful and reluctant to offer levels of PI and LOR expected in the UK market. Simple LORs can take months; on one occasion the client experience was so poor they resorted to going to another company to redo the original scope (legal commented, "that was a result!"). Sad.
There is a fixation on misdirected KPIs. Billing ratio and certain performance scores are considered more important than profitability and productivity.
Model creates silos.
Morale and productivity is variable and terrible in some teams.
Salaries are uncompetitive in the UK market.
Financial systems are complex.
The company will hold back your professional development so don't stick it out in the hope that things will get better as they show little signs of doing that.
Project managers eat up fees and leave insufficient for technical delivery.
Expect to be belittled by a business unit manager at some point. You will be expected to tow the line and keep quiet on systems/approaches that clearly do not work.
Colleagues leaving meetings saying things like I've got to pick the dog up from the vet and, the most frequent, I've got to join another meeting. Unprofessional.
Cross-selling almost non-existent.
