AECOM reviews

- A corporate climate that has now devolved into almost satirical territory, where miserable staff wait for their days (and lives) to end. An inefficient bureaucratic structure permeates, and 'high-level' senior management is trotted out once a quarter to give rambling, nonsensical PowerPoint presentations that consist primarily of MBA jargon (e.g. best practices, centers of excellence, performance management, value-added, etc) to justify their over-inflated salaries. - Salaries for professional staff that are considerably below market rate, with the thinking that a depressed economic climate and the opportunity to work on 'sexy' projects should be sufficient. The idea that staff should 'be lucky to have a job' (said often by a number of principals) is outright offensive, and in 2012, actually no longer the case. - Many promotions and advancements are doled out based on favoritism and/or how willing you are to be your boss' lapdog. In many instances, promotions do not come with any salary adjustments, so are now just pathetic ways to placate employees for a while longer. - A company that has become overly obsessed with short-term financial results, at the expense of of creating a great company. A constant threat to be 100 percent billable has effectively disallowed to opportunity to engage in marketing efforts, training opportunities, team-building activities, etc. At this rate, bathroom breaks and sneezing will need to be billed to the client. Minimal conference fees are now routinely denied. - The dwindling lack of talent within the company, particularly at the more senior level, is now seriously affecting project work. Many principals who had something to offer have left for greener pastures, thereby leaving those without the deep skill sets to produce high-quality deliverables or the social capabilities to build a client base or motivate staff. - A company that bills itself as 'international' and 'collaborative' is anything but. Interaction across offices is minimal because the business structure disincentivizes it. The idea that many people have the opportunity to work on 'high profile' projects is unfounded, as these projects are hogged by principals who want the glory and the ability to expense foreign dinners on their corporate AmEx. - Unsurprisingly, a company that feeds out negativity from the top ends up creating corrosive office environments at the ground level, and the existing atmosphere feels like a high school cafeteria, where trash-talking others is the norm and backstabbing happens regularly. This is particularly sad, as the one supposed benefit of consulting is to be in a supportive team atmosphere. - After spending countless time and money on a 'rebranding' effort (which apparently is where everyone's bonus went), the company is still unable to cohesively present what it stands for and what it actually does. The idea that it is committed to 'sustainable environments' is hypocritical considering it actively pursues projects that are socially, economically and environmentally damaging to many communities.

AECOM PDD in Arlington, VA otherwise known the National Capital Office (NCO) is a collection several recently acquired AE/EA firms. Having its foundation as DMJM design, there was eventually a collocation of with recently acquired Hayes, Sean, Mattern & Mattern (HSSM). Eventually there will also be a full collocation of former Ellerbe Becket as well. With a total staff of just around 350 employees mostly architects and engineers, there was the expected challenge of trying to integrate the ideas of all other cultures into one identity. This would be a huge undertaking - one that would require the right leadership and management. Unfortunately, instead of integration, management chose a more dangerous path. The "collocation" turned into an all out clash of civilizations. Much of the management became hostile and certain leadership roles were given to favorites. Also other leadership roles were superseded (i.e. DMJM which is a far more reputable firm had its management side-stepped by that of HSMM) and there was soon another wave of aggressive politics to bring Ellerbe Becket's leadership into prominence as well. By late 2010 there were some truly ugly corporation politics. People were stabbing each other in the back left and right - anything to justify the existence of one another in the midst of a rapidly evaporating workload. Leaders who you expected to act professional were not and in one nauseating scene there was a complete unprofessional breakdown of several of the firms principals for not being invited to a client meetings. This of course happened right in front of the entire team of people who were working late - well past regular business hours. Where there was once a very outstanding group of professionals turned into a cesspool of immature, unprofessional, overzealous, self-serving scoundrels, and maybe their most occasional critic. Unsurprisingly, there were a string of promotions to some of the most woefully unqualified individuals. Clients were literally shocked when they would be introduced as "Principals" or "Vice-Presidents." It gets even worse. There was a lot hiring even during the Great Recession but only of senior level personnel who were brought in with the idea they could bring in additional work. This created an extremely top-heavy organization that carried merely a handful of junior-level architects and a smattering of mid-level people. The later ones would constantly be in the line of fire when there is poor workload forecasting - if that makes any sense. A lot of very good talent was lost. Therefore, when you would spend five days in a row working around the clock towards a deadline, that person doing much of the production would instantly be treated like dirt and cast aside when that phase of the work was finished. Then to add insult to injury, that person would also get lectured on using "way too many hours" on the project even though they were asked to do their job. So in turn, in order to justify the existence of Senior level staff that supposedly manage projects, they throw their production people under the buss constantly so that they can use of all of the project's available hours for themselves. It has become a perfectly accepted practice at AECOM and completely overlooked by management that is more than in cahoots with this ugly way of conducting business. It came to a point where I was being asked by my supposed "Studio Manager" to lie about my hours. Unacceptable. Layoffs started around (you guessed it) Christmas Eve! Basically you already had a relatively beaten down and demoralized workforce facing the grim reality that they would be next in the line of fire. And by January 2011 about 2 or three people were getting the axe per week (it is April now and this has continued). It created an ugly political and cultural atmosphere where there was once a positive environment became a dreadful place to come to work. Everyone was on pins and needles and production took a huge hit, gossip and fear mongering became rampant, people started to step all over eachother - and of course upper management seamed only to encourage the madness as they continue to sink even further as an organization. Astonishingly some of the other organizations that AECOM views as "competitors" (Gensler, HOK, Aedas, RTKL, SOM, etc) were hiring people.