Pros
- Compensation in the form of salary is low. You should expect to work for your share dividends instead. It will take about 7 years for that to catch up to industry pay. - Benefits package is good. - PCL has the bonding capacity to bid and win large projects. So you can expect to work on larger projects.
Cons
- I worked for PCL for more than 5 years. I started off as a "Project Coordinator" (even though I was doing the work of the Senior Project Manager) and, eventually, became a Project Manager after many years of jumping through hoops. - Upon taking paternity leave, PCL decided to courier me a termination letter the day before I was to return to work. I think this says a lot about who runs this company. You are just a number. They will pigeon hole you. - Poor management by HR Department and District Management. They will not investigate harassment or discrimination on the job site or in the project office. You will have to prove everything to them. Good luck when senior staff is in kahootz with other staff members on your project. - PCL purposefully understaff their projects. They have to make a large profit to pay their share dividends somehow. They are employee-owned after all. So they choose to spread their staff on as many projects as possible. Don't be surprised if you end up working on more than one project at the same time. - Unreasonable expectations based on salary paid. They will pile on the workload and expect you to keep up with the workload. If you don't keep up with the workload, they will put you on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) whereby you have three months to meet their unreasonable expectations or they will terminate your employment. - The annual salary is much lower than industry average. They will sell you on the idea that once you buy enough shares over the years, that you will be making more money based on share dividends. But to buy the shares you will have to apply for a special bank loan to finance the shares. So that debt will continue to rise each year with every share you purchase. - Very long working hours. You're expected to do whatever it takes to keep the job rolling. So you find yourself overworked and sacrificing your evenings, weekends and holidays to catch up on work. I can remember watching my newborn son grow in his crib each night because I was working 12 hour days on a hospital project. - Career opportunities are minimal unless you're a jock, especially if you played semi-professional hockey. You are just a cog in a wheel otherwise. They will have you jumping through hoops trying to get a promotion. District management rely on the project's senior management to pass judgement on you. So you better kiss serious behind and remember your manager sees you as potential competition and a threat to their long-term employment. - Hypocrisy prevails. PCL will NOT encourage you to attain your Project Management Professional (PMP) designation to become the best Project Manager you can be. Instead they will offer you their College of Construction courses that mimic only a partial set of PMP skills. They don't want you to be more proficient because you will leave to go to another company and demand more money. So they will try to keep you ignorant for as long as possible. You'll know this and understand once you see the thick binders of operating procedures and checklists. - Beware of this large privately-owned corporation. They do things very differently. They will take advantage of you. And then they will fabricate a story to devalue your skills to keep you in your place and to justify paying you a low salary. And whenever they choose, they will terminate your employment without breaking a sweat. In their eyes, you are always replaceable. - After they fire you, they will not even have the decency to provide you with a letter of recommendation to help you on your future career. - Be especially forewarned if you are just graduating from university and considering starting your career with PCL. There are many construction management companies that are much, much better choices.
