COWI reviews

Difficult to move between different projects, they don't want to recognise that someone is doing a job above his or her pay. You just have to get on with it, even if the market out there pays 50% more for that position, as it was my case. A bit behind regarding WFH after the pandemic. They expect everyone to be back in the office at least 3 days a week, which is a bit annoying as the profit in the last two years has been the best ever in the UK branch, showing that WFH arrangements work. I guess some people could say that I'm being unreasonable for complaining about it, but the company results are there, my wallet notices the commuting and they are not paying for it. Promotion policy is clear, but cumbersome. You need to be chartered even to become senior engineer, it's not enough with 5 or 10 years of experience. They like to boast about learning, and training, and so on, but training is usually only useful to the main core of the old Donaldson Associates. If you knowledge is very niche and not strictly related to bridges, tunnels or maybe geotechnical design, forget about it, this is not your company as you are always going to be sidelined. They say they want to retain talent, but a lot of people leave before 2 or 3 years. I wonder why.

Lays off good employees, which affects employee morale. Somewhat chaotic management at times. Work can get monotonous for some engineers, so you should have a clear career path/goal and request type of work you want to work on. Yes men/women are highly appreciated by them, but are often the ones left behind if you don't have a good Head of Section/Group Lead.