If not for negative incentives, there would be no incentives at all.
Pros
Interesting & challenging projects available; Great coworkers (staff level); Decent benefits.
Cons
Sweat shop atmosphere: harassment when billability drops below 100%. Mgmt focuses on the negative with no positive reinforcement. Lots of stick, no carrot: No real raises, no promotions, no bonuses (except Sr Management), no recognition, no appreciation, little to no real training. Raises 1-2% every year, which is below the cost of living. This is reflected in the fact that AECOM salaries are below average for the industry. Particularly galling are the seasonal "all hands" meetings where one of the innumerable VPs from the mainland travels out to Hawaii and gives a presentation raving about how profitable the company is, esp. the Western Region, and most esp. the Honolulu office, then when asked why that isn't reflected in employee raises, he changes the subject (Note: this situation no longer occurs because in the few instances when an employee did ask such a question during these meetings, they were subsequently admonished by office mgmt as "not being a team player"). Promotions are like the Yeti---we've all heard of them, but no one has actually seen one. Bonuses? Extinct at the staff level. Only Directors and up get bonuses. Past couple of years, the CEO's was 7 figures. No recognition and no appreciation except by fellow staff or one's immediate supervisor, which are ignored by office mgmt, who only recognize and interact with staff when something goes wrong. Even client recognition of staff gets ignored. Training is spooned out like water in the desert, despite supposedly having a significant training budget, and despite claims to the contrary in annual program reports. Most "training" represents either job-required training (e.g., OSHA 8-hr refresher, first aid, etc) or cheap/free online offerings, and for all of which staff are asked to make up half of the "lost time" with billable work. An employee survey conducted earlier in the year identified each of these issues, overwhelmingly. However, in subsequent HR meetings to discuss the survey results, and discuss why there is a current employee exodus, each and every single one of the issues mentioned above was ignored. All. It was like HR was reading a completely different survey. A junior employee who pointed that out was subsequently admonished by office mgmt as, again, "not being a team player".