Undue Pressure on the Consultants, Office atmosphere can be political. - Associate Engineer ERM Employee Review

3.0
Sep 11, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I've worked on some very cool projects and learned a lot in my experience. ERM has big clients that need assistance with big projects. It can be very cool to participate. There are still a few very smart people left in the ranks that are willing to take a junior consultant under their wing. I owe my current position (at another company) to the great project experience I got at ERM. Compensation is so-so, raises are based on annual inflation +/- a fraction of a percent depending on annual reviews (how billable you were the past year).

Cons

The company is run by investors whose primary goal is for the company to be as profitable as possible. This puts stress on all the employees there to be a billable as possible. Billability goals of 95% or 100% are typical for ERM consultants (you have to be working on something that ERM can charge for at least 38 hours per week). If you consistently work 60 hours per week, don't expect to get much more than a "thanks for helping our office's billability numbers". The burden is on each employee to meet the goal, otherwise you attract negative attention and predictable conversations with management. This is BS especially for the entry-level workers who have little to no control over what is handed to them. It is expected that you work over your 40 hours to meet these goals. Workers get stressed and it affects their personal lives if they're not billable enough. Project Managers get stressed out over this too. A lot of stress in general. Office atmosphere can be cold and political; I attribute this atmosphere to the stresses listed above As others have said, development of junior employees can be better. Opportunities for classes and training are available, but that may take away from your billability, which can be problematic

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Cons

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