Low Pay, High Turnover - Arup uses it's prestige in the AEC world to justify a significantly lower base salary in the industry. Most engineers can see through this logical fallacy. Profit-share bonuses are usually a joke. 401k only vests until after 4 years, to keep people from leaving before then.
Slow Advancement/Terrible Flexibility- They only promote/raise once a year. Negotiation is rarely allowed. The compensation scheme is based on grades that are supposed to follow your advancement. In reality, this is rarely the case. On some projects I'm asked to do things well above my experience and pay grade. Who doesn't love doing the work of someone who gets paid a lot more than you? Or getting paid the same as someone who does bad work?
Lacking Transparency - The ultimate decision of whether you get a raise or not is behind closed doors. The factors of the decisions are discussed with your supervisor. In my case, my supervisor barely has an insight onto this process.
Undefined Expectations - There are no defined goals, or maybe that's just my group. I've been working here for over 2 years, and I still have no idea where I'm supposed to be in terms of skills, capability, and autonomy on projects. I can only guess where I stand among my peers. You "turn and burn" projects with no evaluation of the finished product. No feedback on things that could have been done better, just on to the next project with a tight deadline.
No Accountability - Nothing incentivizes you to do more work. Whether you're work is good or bad, you can expect no praise for good work or repercussions for bad work.
Culture can feel... Cult-ish - "We shape the World" is the motto. Loyal employees call themselves "Arupians" and have nothing but good things to say about our impact. The late Ove Arup is such a "visionary" and plastered everywhere around the office.
Yearly Appraisal System - There is a very corporate appraisal system that occurs yearly and supposedly influences your raise. Since your raise is influenced, most people will avoid negative reviews and be untruthful with there career development. Most people do not take this seriously and the conversation is extremely forced.
Bad Support - Big slow moving company. Hard to get timely support for your projects and/or from HR or IT.
