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Geosyntec Consultants

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Amazing Job, amazing people, great benefits, great company - Staff Scientist Geosyntec Consultants Employee Review

5.0
Nov 26, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Wide variety of projects, great coworkers, prolific corporate culture of cooperation rather competition between offices. The benefits (401k matching, yearly bonus, etc.) are quite nice. The work can be challenging depending on the project, but they are great for resume building and gaining a lot of early career experience. Highly devoted to workplace and project safety (and it's genuine). Overall a great company to work for. The senior management of the company are amazing. They run the company very carefully, very well, and have been the reason it can weather the storm of the pandemic (amongst other hardships) without mass layoffs, pay cuts, and other such issues that are prevalent in larger, publicly traded companies.

Cons

Field staff and database/GIS staff work well over 40 hours on the regular. For field staff, working 50-60 hours a week is not uncommon, database staff often average 45-50 hours. To be fair, project managers are quite busy as well having to manage everything. Starting pay for all levels is standardized across the firm (this is both a pro and a con). A pro because you can start making over 60k a year, and depending on where you live and it's cost of living, that can be fantastic stating pay. The con is that the pay does not change (up or down) based on location. So if you live in an area with a higher cost of living then your starting pay is still good, but not as great as it could be. For mid-high level staff this isn't much of an issue, but this can be taxing on those starting out if they live/work out of an office location with a high cost of living. Increasingly ask for more output but without adequately matching the increase in workload with an increase in pay. You could work 14+ hour days for 4 months straight, but your raise will often times be similar to those who work significantly less hours, which feels arbitrary at times. Annual Reviews - your superiors, peers, and those who work under you will be asked for feedback on your performance before your review. This could simply be different from office to office (or even person to person) but the reviews often briskly mention your contributions throughout the year and what you did well, only to then focus on what needs work. This should be talked about of course, but the degree of importance placed on either is greatly lopsided in favor of shortcomings. You could work a 70 hour week, but the PM will provide feedback about how you had one spelling mistake in a daily summary email you sent late in the evening. This can feel petty to some and toxic to others, my humble advice for managers would be to please weigh these more evenly. The feedback is always constructive mind you, but nonetheless rarely appreciates the work done but picks apart minor mistakes that may have been made. Advice for early career folks (most likely you) - Never be afraid to say "No" to increased work if you're already feeling overworked. This goes for office and field staff. The consulting field is high on workload, but if you're feeling burnt out after working 50+ hours a week for a good bit of time, speak up, because this company WANTS you to do so and does truly care about your work/life balance and mental wellbeing.

Explore other reviews about Geosyntec Consultants

5.0
May 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Well run and well-respected overall

Cons

Only the cons typically associated with the env consulting field, nothing company-specific

4.0
Jul 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There is a lot of variety of work available for those seeking it and eager to diversify their skill set. Cross collaboration between groups, offices, and practices is highly encouraged. It has been a unique experience among other consulting firms I’ve worked at, as Geosyntec prizes doing cool work on cool projects over just trying to maximize how much money is coming in. The atmosphere doesn’t feel internally competitive, and there isn’t generally a sense of possessiveness of work amongst managers and working groups. Many projects I’ve been on have been multidisciplinary efforts with teams assembled from all over to get the right people in the right position on each project, regardless of who may be the “profit center” for the revenue.

Cons

Sometimes, because of the pros described above, organization of projects can feel a little stretched thin, and the consequence of such collaboration and cross-team work sharing can sometimes lead to a lacking of accountability in the leadership structure on a project, as people are performing work for other groups and managers they do not directly or indirectly report to. Additionally, I feel like the company is a little top heavy on senior managers, principals, and senior principals, and it can feel as a mid-career employee that there isn’t enough early-mid career support on projects.

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