Pros
People who actually do the productive work delivering the projects are very helpful and talented (although the more talented ones are leaving fast). There is generally a good atmosphere within the project delivery teams, in the same way I imagine there is good camaredie amongst death row inmates. Flexible working opportunities are good. Working from home is generally not a problem, although the company has cut back significantly on being able to book extra time when you're very busy -you're now basically expected to work for free to meet impossible deadlines due to high turnover of staff. There were many positives working here 5+ years ago. From my area of the business at least, these have now disappeared to make more money for those lucky shareholders. Not sure if this is the case everywhere else in the business though. Line managers are generally supportive, within their limited capabilities.
Cons
I would take the 5 star positive reviews with a pinch of salt. If you check the rating trend there is a suspicious upswing of short generic and very positive reviews with no cons from around the time Atkins was taken over by SNC Lavalin in July 2017.... And SNC is a Canadian company who is no stranger to corruption: Google SNC and Gaddafi. A cabal of parasitic bean counters and their sycophants have taken over the mid-manager roles and are sucking the place dry. Consequently the pay increases have been lagging behind inflation for years. Last year there were no raises for my team, but charge rates to clients went up significantly as UK inflation was so high. I wonder where that windfall ended up? The pay and bonus scheme is purposefully obfuscated so that you cannot discuss your pay and progression with anyone whom has the power to make decisions. Getting training is worse than pulling teeth, as overhead time booking (ie not to an external project) is completely forbidden. If there is training that is absolutely mandatory for the job, then Atkins will make you charge it to any client they think they can hide the cost from; usually the biggest. (Read corruption above) This can lead to scenes of pure irony, such as the time we had to rip off clients by hiding time spent on an SNC mandatory ethics training course to a client’s project. As a consequence, morale is very low on the ground. Good people are leaving in droves, and recruitment standards have frantically dropped to plug the leak, which means more pressure on the competent employees. Pretty much all of my former colleagues still at Atkins are actively looking to leave.
