Deceitful leadership doesn't value employees - Manager Black & Veatch Employee Review

1.0
Dec 6, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I was hired as a remote employee and have worked long hours, providing demonstrable value to the company. It hasn't always been easy and sometimes felt thankless, but in general I have been positive about my position. It's been impressive to hear that the company has had extremely profitable years during COVID with the workforce nearly fully remote.

Cons

After 88% of the company embraced remote work and built lives around it, after repeated assurances that the company was committed to this work arrangement permanently, everyone has been given a few weeks notice that we have to return to the office 3 days a week. You have to understand how much management had leaned into touting this as a benefit that we could rely on to fully understand the overwhelming devastation across the company. The new CEO himself promised this was something we could count on just 6 months ago. It's on video. Buildings were closed, there's not enough room for everyone now. Yet with just a few weeks notice, people are expected to drive up to 75 miles each way to go in. The reason cited was to "improve culture."

avatar
Black & Veatch Response
3y
We recognize this will be an adjustment for many of our professionals. With that in mind, we took a tiered approach to welcome professionals back to the office in 2023 giving time to acclimate to this new hybrid schedule. We are also continuing to evaluate Virtual mileage around US and global offices as we understand each market has unique transit patterns. The radius for Virtual professionals in Kansas City has been reduced to 50 miles.

Explore other reviews about Black & Veatch

5.0
Jun 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great team to work with in SCADA

Cons

Nothing to specify.. so far everything is good

avatar
Black & Veatch Response
1mo
Thank you for leaving a review! We appreciate the feedback!
1.0
Jul 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fair starting compensation, the team I lead is very dedicated, the onboarding process is very smooth, there are opportunities to mentor and be mentored.

Cons

The current performance management process is deeply flawed. Leaders collect ratings from managers and supervisors, then gather in a room with peers to “calibrate.” During this meeting, a predetermined percentage of employees must receive low ratings. At one point, someone referred to this as “forced ratings,” and the IT leader became visibly upset, insisting that it was not. However, I was present for the discussion: we lowered ratings, checked the spreadsheet, lowered more ratings, checked the spreadsheet again, and repeated this cycle until we hit the percentage the IT leader said had to be met. From conversations with peers outside of IT, this appears to be a common practice across the organization. Unfortunately, the approach often results in employees receiving ratings that do not accurately reflect their actual performance. These artificially lowered ratings directly affect merit increases and bonuses—even if the bonuses are relatively small—creating consequences that feel at best unfair. Regardless of what label is used, the experience felt undeniably forced.

1
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All