A once great company that has got complacent
Pros
Arup tends to attract intelligent and open-minded people - teams/offices are generally a nice, welcoming environment. lots of sports clubs and other social initiatives. pay and benefits fairly competitive, promotions can be quick but depends on local leadership Good opportunities for in house and external training in early years of career in particular. If you hold strong boundaries, work / life balance can be good; again, this depends heavily on individual team culture. Opportunities to work abroad if you push for it and work in the right sectors. The approach to this is generous with allowances for moving etc. Nice offices in good central locations, and lots of flexibility. Excellent family and illness policies. Access to high profile / interesting projects and clients. The Arup name definitely goes far in that regard.
Cons
Short sighted and poorly executed decisions eg a dept I work with a lot experienced three rounds of redundancy in two years and is now in a recruitment crisis as we can’t rehire what was lost. Leadership generally is weak at Arup, with success based on how well you can rehearse the party line; directors are very reluctant to challenge upwards and I sense a culture of fear at that level. Micromanagement of minuscule budgets for non-billable admin causes unnecessary stress for all, especially project managers dealing with the resultant overspend on projects. It also prevents clear data on actual operational costs to the business. Very inconsistent approach to commercial management. New systems, guidance and procedures are regularly published with limited comms and an ‘opt-in’ culture to training. As a result it is the blind leading the blind much of the time. Despite this, when it goes wrong, junior people get the blame. Internal support teams are generally very poor; recruitment is often embarrassing to be involved with, bid support is limited, and HR is very poor. A lot of time is wasted dealing with this sort of stuff and it gets very frustrating. Diversity remains an issue; whilst there has been improvement in gender and racial diversity, class/economic background is the elephant in the room.
