Good ole boy environment + bad management in Colorado - werkgeversreview Project Manager bij U.S. Engineering

Upper management in the Westminster office proudly promotes a good ole boy culture - it’s not the positive culture that is touted for the Kansas City office. There’s a lot of favoritism and if you are not part of the inner circle (comprised only of a handful of middle-aged white men), things can be very tough here. Unfortunately, nepotism is part of what gets you in that inner circle. There is so little diversity here it’s a joke – only a handful of minorities and females. The few that work here are marginalized and confined to their box because they don’t fit the requisite good ole boy profile. Overall, if you don’t fit a very narrow profile of what they think is acceptable, you will not enjoy working here, let alone succeed, and will likely be unknowingly sabotaged while you’re here. A lot of internal politics and back-stabbing consisting of in-fighting between different departments in the same office, and there’s definitely a noticeable rift between the Westminster and Kansas City office which puts the front-line workers in an awkward position. Colorado upper management uses passive-aggressive maneuvers and a big “don’t question me” ego to manipulate others and outcomes. If you are one of the very few who are favored, then life might be decent, but most don’t benefit from that favoritism. Questionable management decisions are made in the name of so-called improvement, but in reality it's more of a rogue-style management practice. Unfortunately, they change things without considering the reality of impacts, and then change them back to the way they were 6-12 months later when they realize that was a mistake. This pattern continues because in another 6-12 months they change things again, and the same dysfunctional cycle repeats itself over and over. It’s like they are just guessing and haven’t really thought out the longer-term consequences / benefits / impacts of major changes. Communication is essentially non-existent and swooping changes are made without informing the front-line people who actually have to deal with those changes. Low pay that definitely hasn’t kept pace with the rising cost of living in Colorado. They intentionally bring people in very low because they try to cut costs wherever they can so that translates to below market wages across the board. That's why they focus their hiring efforts on recent college grads because they know they can lowball them on salary. Very rigid and old-fashioned mentalities, especially in terms of work time and technology. There’s definitely a rigid butt in chair mentality where you’re expected to be in the office every day from 7 AM – 5 PM. Absolutely no flexibility – this is the expectation that is not deviated from to allow for flex scheduling, work-from-home or anything like that. You either adapt or you’re out - period. I’ve never seen such clock-watchers in a company, but this is how it is. Technology is also very outdated, but that’s because they try to keep costs low and don’t invest in better systems. Overall, the culture is pretty bad in the Colorado office, and that’s because of what upper management has created and fostered. They are threatened by any differing opinions, thoughts, ideas. Forget trying to be innovative or different in anyway – that will not be tolerated, unless it's management's idea. If you are one of the smart ones who actually tries to get out, you will be walked out the door the SAME day you give your notice because they equate your resignation with disloyalty, despite how good of an employee you have been. I’ve seen it happen to really great employees more times that I care to count. It’s best that if you decide to quit, give your notice and expect to leave that same day – you will not be treated with any dignity or respect.