Stantec reviews

A culture of greed and dishonesty. Proposals show staff and resources that ultimately will not be used on projects. Time spent on overbudget projects is charged against other projects and clients to maintain chargeability and utilization. Profit is the overriding priority over good engineering practices and due diligence. Our best engineers and marketers have left or been let go. No local support - no human resources, no marketing help, no IT help. Little or no training and support. Poor communication in office and between offices. Little or no cooperation due to interdepartmental rivalries and suspicion. No work sharing, total compartmentilization of projects. Little trust between departments and employees. I would leave if I could find another job elsewhere.

The entire business model is based on acquisitions. Find a firm with a 20+% profit margin; acquire the company; raise billable rates 20%; and hope that after a year you retain a few of the top players so you can make a 5% profit after you have taken care of the abundance of overhead (accountants, lawyers, policy makers, etc). The point: When a company rapidly expands, it has trouble with it's identity. Each acquired firm had their own formula for success. Changing that formula on a local level is slow and sometimes appears almost nonexistent. Acquisitions should be balanced with organic growth. For more information, review the company size five years ago, ten years ago. This company needs more than a feel-good policy written by a suit in a vacuum.