Great projects, intelligence, client trust - low pay, metric driven, low retention of new hires
Pros
FASCINATING FULFILLING PROJECTS: I will agree with almost all folks here - ERM's projects are incredibly interesting and our clients are coming to us with very unique and difficult issues for which we can creatively create solutions. Companies are faced with zealous and ambitious internal climate targets and ERM's teams are the ones to jump in and create real results to address them. I've worked on intricate, mind-buzzing projects since I was hired and there's never a shortage of them - if you can get on the right network of folks that are managing them. BRILLIANT TEAM MEMBERS: On a similar note, ERM's brainpower is staggering and awe-inspiring. I have met the smartest people in my life at ERM. Every other engineer or modeler has their PhD or Masters in a useful topic that ERM benefits from. Employees are constantly writing and publishing white papers on interesting, timely topics for bettering the planet. I feel excited to work with these folks daily and have learned much from them. VERY FLEXIBLE LIFESTYLE: As long as you get your assigned work done, you can pretty much do what you want. If you meet your billable goal and deadlines by the end of each week, you're set. Of course, meeting them is often difficult if you're not connected, but once you are - you're golden. No one will micromanage you if you take a two-hour break, or random PTO. You can always work remotely 100% and no one bats an eye, although there were recommendations last year to get folks into the office more often. CLIENT TRUST: Clients do trust ERM very deeply and this shows in our F2Fs with them. It's great to work on teams wherein I know the work product will satisfy or impress the client and they will keep coming back.
Cons
LOW PAY: ERM is a GREAT place to start your career and also boomerang once you've gained experience elsewhere and want to return at Partner level for a higher salary and more prestige. There's a whole group of ERMrs that have returned and there's a running joke that in order to be promoted or receive a higher salary, one has to leave and return later. Which is, of course, unsustainable. I recommend staying for 2-5 years and going elsewhere then returning later for better pay and a promotion. You are NOT rewarded for being loyal here. Go elsewhere and get the raise you deserve. Many leave ERM and their salaries increase by 50-100%. METRIC DRIVEN: The RCEO pushes business unit leaders to hit metrics that are near impossible to meet, and this means many are faced with constant reminders they aren't doing enough - despite requesting work from all project managers in their network. It appears that, while a work life balance is supported, it's not possible to do so because one has to work 40+ hours to meet their metrics without overtime pay. It's causing a huge retention issue with the new hires of the last few years. IDENTITY CRISIS: Right now, there are a lot of growing pains in the env consulting industry and ERM is feeling them. They are not doing a great job at telling clients WHY they should hire them, but rather hugging close to loyal clients and sucking them dry in place of driving new business with new clients. And a lot of these clients are O&G/fossil fuel based...which means ERM is not, in fact, walking the talk very well. Essentially, our project work generally aligns with our company sustainability policy but is far from aligning with the Paris Agreement. Global leadership seems to care very little about the environment and only about increased profit margins. MEAGER OFFICE CULTURE: The offices are fairly bare bones, and people only come in when there's food. New hires have no connections and no networks so they are hard to retain, especially when few people come into offices. Offices used to be very full of energy and excitement and it was joyous to be there and learn from others. This is not the case anymore and so very little organic conversations happen over online comms.
