Pros
none whatsoever, the PTO is still a joke, even after "adding" a week extra it pencils out to less than 2 weeks of PTO
Cons
Too many to list. The highlights: -My coworker and I were both hired on at the same time and were promised a 6-10s work schedule. On our first day, the client claimed they had just limited overtime due to daylight savings time, and we would be limited to 8 hour days. This was super upsetting because I was taking a pay cut from my last job, and the only reason I accepted this job offer was because it penciled out to more money with the overtime I was expecting to work. -A major snow and ice storm hit the region, causing widespread damage. I was sent into the eye of the storm the day after the storm had subsided in a rural area with limited to non-existent cell coverage, with no formal safety training on storm response and minimal direction from the client. It wasn't until being thrown into a potentially lethal scenario during the storm response and voicing my concerns to my supervisor that we went over some de facto storm training, but by then it was too little too late. -I once had to argue with my supervisor for half an hour just to be paid for washing my company truck that is REQUIRED to be driven on the clock and washed monthly. It wasn't until I touched on wage theft that they finally relented and agreed to pay me for the time it took to wash my truck by hand, since the truck was so filthy and full of debris no automatic car wash would let me through. -The first half hour of commute time to and from the job site from my house was not paid per company and client policy and was strictly enforced, which is a ridiculous policy, as I was REQUIRED to drive the company truck as part of the job. It was also far from an equitable policy, as it incentivized employees to find the closest starting location they could to their house. -Any and all late/early start and leave times to and from the job sites were carefully scrutinized by both the client and the company (since apparently they have nothing better to do) to instill a pervasive culture of fear and vilification of its employees. When I tried to advocate for myself to explain discrepancies in the truck start/stop times and billable hours, I was immediately talked over and put on the defensive with no chance to explain my reasoning. -The client was especially aggressive in tracking the company truck, which was particularly jarring as I have never worked on a contract where the client (and presumably all of its employees) was granted access to the tracker that contains sensitive, revealing, and personal information that raises a whole slew of privacy concerns. Unsurprisingly, this access was given to the client by my ECI supervisor without asking for my permission or even a discussion. This is NOT NORMAL! Workers should have a right to decide who gets to see such personal information. -Decisions are made unilaterally and on the fly by the client and ECI management, with no input from employees. Once, the client tried to make up a new rule on the spot without discussing it with ECI, and told my coworker and I that the only billable time to them would be from time spent in the field. This just so happened to coincide with our drive time becoming longer, at around 1 hour each way. -The final nail in the coffin was when I voiced my concerns about the client’s lax oversight of tree crews, unethical "hazard tree" cutting, and non-existent standards and documentation of work procedures that I was promptly separated from 2 days after raising my concerns. I have no doubt that this was done in retaliation for me speaking out about my issues with the program and client. -Despite all this, my supervisor had the gall to claim that “we’re on the same team” while they actively sought to dehumanize me and reduce my worth to little more than numbers being relayed from the GPS tracker in the truck. Make no mistake: as an ECI employee you are little more than a punching bag for utilities to use and abuse in a jumbled web of contractors used to subvert accountability, reduce liability, and protect profits above all else. I strongly encourage anyone thinking about working for this company to reconsider, and find a different competitor to work for if you are seriously considering a career in the UVM industry. I can confidently say ECI has won in the race to the bottom of this exploitative industry.
