Max Fordham Reviews

3.6

69% would recommend to a friend

(71 total reviews)

Alasdair Reid

86% approve of CEO

46% positive business outlook

Max Fordham has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 71 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Max Fordham employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Construction, repair and maintenance industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

71 reviews
3.0
1 Mar 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- The company wins some interesting projects - Transparent structure gives a good sense of what others in the company are up to - Flexible hours mean can organise work around other commitments - Guaranteed overtime (up to a cap).

Cons

- Although in interview was told the flexible arrangements work both ways, have found that eventually it's impossible to ever work less than 40hrs per week to meet project demands. - Sometimes you're made to feel stupid, when you were given something to do that was clearly beyond your current ability - Working on many tasks at once in short time frames which often leads to high levels of stress and mistakes.

1.0
11 Aug 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people I met in person, were really friendly.

Cons

They offered me the job in October/November 2023, for me to start work in September 2024. A few weeks before the starting date, they send me an email saying that my joining date has been postponed to April 2025. I was shell-shocked and so upset, I didn't eat for 2 days. As we approached the new year, I get another email, this time it said the contract has been terminated. This was something that I predicted and had at the back of my mind already because the company doesn't have a proper structure. The pay is below average. I recahed out to them to give me call to explain this in a bit more detail. They mentioned about financial difficulties. Surely a forecast of your financial state should be done before putting out jobs. My advise to all graduates who have applied or thinking of applying or have received a final offer is to please do not waste time. I have wasted 1 year because of them. So please do not make the same mistake as me. Please carry on applying to other firms. You will get through eventually.

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Max Fordham Response
9mo
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We’re genuinely sorry to hear about your experience. In common with much of the industry, the challenges in the broader economy meant we had to make some tough decisions and reduce the extent of our previously planned growth. Regrettably this also meant we were unable to honour the original offers made to those graduates who were due to start; an unprecedented decision that was deeply felt by us all. Our Managing Partners and directors agreed that compensation should be paid to all those affected, although we do understand that this will never be enough to offset the understandable disappointment. We have now revised our plans to suit the prevailing economic outlook which will allow us to start recruiting graduates once again and helping them to develop into some of the best engineers in the UK, as we have been doing for over 50 years. All the best in your future endeavours and thank you again for your feedback. Kind regards, Charmaine
2.0
30 Apr 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The exposure to various fields and disciplines The projects are interesting The flexibility is great and overtime is paid, there is also transparency with management

Cons

Pay and progression is way below industry average especially as you are expected to have skills and knowledge of the job of 2+ disciplines. Senior staff can be too busy to provide support Informal environment leads to unprofessionalism and micro aggressive environment for minorities. Stance on diversity is mainly just virtue signalling

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Max Fordham Response
2y
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. All feedback is helpful as it enables us to gain useful insight into people's experience at the practice, and also gives us the opportunity to make changes. We'd like to reassure you that we take great care to provide our practice members with fair pay, taking many factors into consideration, including market rates, fluctuations in the industry, and individual performance. Pay is reviewed regularly, with a high degree of care and consultation. This reflects our practice culture of open discussion and transparency. We are sorry to hear your thoughts on your career progression and equality, diversity and inclusion at Max Fordham. It is regrettable that we were not made aware of your perspective while you were working with us. Open and honest two-way communication is highly valued at Max Fordham and an important part of our culture. We are sorry if you feel we missed the mark. We would be pleased to hear from you if you'd like to expand on these comments. Providing a positive experience for our practice members is important to everyone at Max Fordham and your feedback is valuable and appreciated. We wish you all the best with the next chapter in your career. Kind regards, Charmaine Mckeown Director of HR
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