AECOM Reviews

Current Employee – been working at AECOM

Pros – Gained a working knowledge of structural engineering, applying it to real life situations.

Cons – Very little support or interest in long term career development.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at AECOM full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Big company with global opportunities

Cons – Big company with an oppressive bureaucracy. Does not really care about the staff, although it feels like the management may have a read a book about it at some time in the same way that a farmer might read a book about how to increase milk yields.

Advice to Senior Management – The most important people, in order of importance: The Clients; the people who look after the Clients; Everyone else.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at AECOM full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Supportive of career aspirations
Very talented and friendly staff to work with and learn from
Variety of work
Great development and responsibility opportunities

Cons – American influence caused some bad taste initially but senior management are slowly resolving this issue.

Advice to Senior Management – Continue shaping aecom into the leading engineering consultancy it can be

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at AECOM full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – The people working with me were all amazing and the relationships thta i built are long lasting.

Cons – Management and ethos from America was very frustrating and quite limiting in terms of prospects, not a valued employee in sight.

Advice to Senior Management – Walk the talk in house.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at AECOM full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Once a great firm that took care of their employees. Opportunities for working on a number of prestigious projects in the UK and around the globe in theory. A lot of great people.

Cons – Now just a corporate money machine where you feel little more than a number. Employee dissatisfaction is very evident.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to your employees and what they want - the best ones are leaving by the dozen.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at AECOM full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – AECOM are a very large organisation, comprising many service lines and offering opportunities to work on a diverse project portfolio in a wide range of geographies.

Cons – Biggest frustration is the admin and bureaucracy that a NY Stock Exchange-listed corporation entails. The size of company can make you feel like a number.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at AECOM as a contractor for more than 8 years

Pros – A good variety of projects, with possibility of foreign postings to mega projects. Also the opportunities to transfer to new fields of experience

Cons – As the company grows larger, it has become "de-personalised" , sometimes used to feel that we were just churning out the paper without too much thought.

Advice to Senior Management – Growth by M&A doesn't necessarily make for a better job

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at AECOM full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good work-life balance. Good mixture of staff at the 'shop floor' level. Some very talented and hard working people below management level. Good benefits. Used to be a good and varied workload.

Cons – Steady decline in workload and opportunities due to recession. Global company, but only relocation opportunities are to the Middle East. Ineffective matrix structure. Poor management within business unit resulting in low bid success rate. Too much emphasis on billable hours, resulting in unpaid overtime for proposal and admin work. No recognition from management.

Advice to Senior Management – Try rewarding the actual workers rather than the extremely unproductive upper-middle management. Focus on work output rather than pie in the sky ideas.

Current Employee – been working at AECOM

Pros – Some truly inspiring colleagues on a global field.

Cons – Some truly mediocre colleagues in the local field.

Advice to Senior Management – For an acquisitive business you need to invest more in your integration procedures.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at AECOM

Pros – Some very good people
Good range of benefits
Wide variety of project related work
There is nothing keeping me there other than a salary cheque.

Cons – Where do I start?
I worked happily for one of the many smaller companies AECOM took over in their "conquer the world" aim. Initially things weren't too different but boy oh boy, are they now!
The company has no soul or indeed heart, it is run like a automated process. Initiative has gone out the window, there are strict processes to follow and the atmosphere is intensely corporate.
There is a general feeling of apathy and discontentment among all but senior management, who feed like leeches off the workforce so that they can go into yet more meetings and crow about performance.
The introduction of the new APIC/ORACLE systems are proving disastrous and causing everybody nothing but added stress as the company seek to cut administrative and supports staff.
Make no mistake, AECOM are all about money (7.3bn revenue last year) and while that is what business is all about, it's built on the back of a worn down workforce.
Bonuses will become a thing of the past but for the select few and senior management
If you are reading this before taking up a position-think again and read what people have to say
If you are reading as an ex employee-give an honest write up, it could help save someone from making a big mistake.

Advice to Senior Management – Try not to be a corporate sheep, speak out in defense of your staff, believe it or not you are only where you are because of them.
Try to remember what it was like to be part of a team rather than leading one.
AECOM is building it's castle rapidly, but as we all know it's the foundations that are most important.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend