AECOM reviews

3.7

69% would recommend to a friend

(11,153 total reviews)
avatar

Troy Rudd

79% approve of CEO

61% positive business outlook

AECOM has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 11,153 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The AECOM employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Servicios de construcción, reparación y mantenimiento industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

11K reviews
2.0
Feb 19, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are actually some very talented professionals scattered around the company if you can find them. There are a lot of technical networks and now the resume system is automated, so they are making headway with uncovering these assets. The benefits package is good.

Cons

Senior management recently described the company as a bloated organization, and they couldn't be more right. The problem is that the bloating is at the top. As a professional engineer, I find it appalling at how many accountants there are to tell me how to do my job. Even more amazing is how little these people understand the engineering business. They fail to realize that talented technical people do not just grow on trees and that this is a cyclical business in a bad economy. The profit expectations of corporate management are totally unrealistic. It has become apparent that AECOM is not really interested in being in the Architecture and Engineering business at all. They continue to set revenue and profit goals that are impossible to obtain and then do more layoffs when these goals are not met. Support services are generally terrible, so you have to do your job without IT, marketing, or HR support, but you must maintain high margin to pay corporate allocation and utilization goals are just plain silly. The long term, strategic mistakes that have been made in the pursuit of short term profits and revenue predictability are staggering. Talented engineers have no place in this firm, it is an MBA-only club. Who knows how they plan to make money once they've finished laying off the rest of the production staff.

1.0
Feb 15, 2012

You're either with us or against us.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* 401k - 6% match, 3% is stock, 3% is cash (I would prefer 100% cash) - 3 years vesting * Tuition Reimbursement (5k/yr) - 3 year service required * Various benefits (different insurance providers) - Good if you need a PPO or HMO and they have a lot of various providers. Insurance payments are fair (not 100% by employer though). Not quite sure the of the split. * Relocation Assistance (1 year service required) - Good if you transfer to another global location. * Global locations - You can transfer to other locations, it's a bit dependent on need, luck and other factors. Good way to work abroad though. Your mileage may vary as some officers are better than others. * ENR Rank #1 - AECOM is ranked #1 for Design Firms. This makes it possible to apply to other design firms. See below in cons (if you join another company, you're ostracized and viewed as an "enemy")

Cons

* Executive management is out of touch. They "sell" the benefits of the company to you but providing a weekly email saying how great the company is. The weekly email was shady at times. * They want you to bill 100% nonstop. My manager hounded me for billing 98% and 102%, all that matters is 100%, no more, no less. Why? It looks good to the bean counters and your manager is being pushed by executive management. * The timesheet system is pretty bad, make any change, explain why, for each and every task and every moving time. Load a project, takes about 5 minute to load. Didn't save? Restart a timesheet that should take 5 minutes at max to do, when in reality it takes 30 minutes. You need the time in a certain task for a project, if that project task is overrun [which happens a lot], either file a paperwork that goes up 3 levels of command saying I am moving 1/4 hr to certain task of the same project [excessive paperwork]. * Bad management style. Instead of growing the company, they will just purchase more companies. Google AECOM acquisition and there's enough proof. Why do M&A? Easier for John Dionosio / Executive Board to grow their salary. What happens as a result of M&A? Bad transitions, former operating companies (op-cos) fight for money as they are seen as individual silos [yet we're "one" AECOM]. * Promotions/Career Opportunities: Promotions are nonexistent and if promoted, it takes an excessive long time, [5 years for a junior staff to move up to next junior level]. You can be promoted with no increase in salary yet increase in responsibility. Payraises are miminal, 1-3% at best, on average most get 0-2%. *Bonuses: Historically many op-cos give bonuses to their staff, to encourage a good morale. Currently, only managers above a certain level are given bonuses. Management really hurt a lot of operating companies and effectively killed morale with this move. Note: If you leave to a different operating company, different industry, or leave AECOM at all, you are seen as an enemy, not in line with the vision of one AECOM. If you don't say yes to everything, you are seen as an enemy, not in line with the vision of one AECOM. If you don't make 100% billability, you are seen as the enemy [you will mostly be laid off or fired or something in that nature], not in line with the vision of one AECOM. The vision of one AECOM is you're either with us or against us.

Viewing 10939 - 10941 of 11,153 Reviews

Glassdoor has 12,616 AECOM reviews submitted anonymously by AECOM employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if AECOM is right for you.