(This is my experience from someone who has had multiple years of field work with ARCADIS)
Typical engineering company. Nothing very special about the way it treats its employees. Promotes a culture of self promotion and not actual hard work to move up the chain.
Good way to start a career but I would not recommend staying with this company once you have experience. Some people get lucky and find a nice niche but they can get eliminated after a few years depending on how bad the company is doing.
Horrible communication between office staff and field staff. Never got to a job site where the ARCADIS office staff came up with an efficient and common sense plan. There is no emphasis on field-office staff communication. Probably would save millions of dollars for ARCADIS-US if they did. That is no exaggeration I personally have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars of waste because of this lack of communication.
The communication problem is also exacerbated by the current policy of ARCADIS to hire the youngest and cheapest employees to do the field work.
There is some positives though. Can work with some experienced people that have stayed with the company and actually learn a few things. Currently ARCADIS is on a rampage to get rid of experienced people though.
There is no guarantee of having a job from year to year and it will try and use you for every dollar that it gives you. I would view ARCADIS as a good place to get training and that's it.
Like I sa
Some offices are not good. Some people do not treat other people well. Some managers show favoritism to some employees. As a manager, they cover the mistakes made by some employees whom they “like” but highlight mistakes of other employees. Too much politics in some offices. Your raise and promotion depends on how well you can play politics. You don’t have to be good at your work. You don’t have to be technically good. Just be good at politics and always comply with what important people in the company say/do.
If you’re an Engineer 1 or Engineer 2, you’re a CADD Drafter in reality. Job description is the same throughout the country.
Pay is way below average and it’s not feasible to live in a city like New York with the salary they provide. The salary is pretty standard no matter where you’re located.
If you ask for more salary while negotiating the offer, they will trap you by offering a very high signing bonus and lower than average base pay. This signing bonus has to be returned if you leave before a year from the date you join.
Working from home is subject to supervisor approval and some supervisors do not let you work from home even if there’s few feet of snow outside. You’ll be asked to sacrifice 1 day of paid time off.
Overtime pay is subject to supervisor approval. Some supervisors do not let you get overtime despite working more than 40 hours.
Most projects have no budget. You’ll be working overtime without being paid for it.
ProsNothing to be honest
ConsBad people to work with, too much politics, no growth, supervisors showing favoritism
2.0
Environmental Scientist | Roseville, CA | Feb 12, 2019
Fun ride but fundamental problems
I had my first taste of consulting with Arcadis, working with them for over two years and a promotion. I’m sure it varies from office to office, project manager to project manager, but my experience could be likened to a famine or feast scenario.
When field work came, I would have to accept, as the office was a realm of solitude without much prospect of finding hours to fill up a whole week. Billability is obviously emphasized, and new hires will have to face the prospect of panhandling for hours their first few months until trust is built (my supervisor was too hands-off and would never have constant work). There is little to no mentorship or guidance; I was thrust out there and had to learn as I went. Expect to be taken to all sorts of places, for days to weeks at a time. Great for the unattached, but your personal life will suffer otherwise.
Compensation is alright, especially with per diems and the prospect of bonuses that I received from time to time. However, benefits are limited and irritating to use (say goodbye to kaiser). My advice to management would be to be more communicative with junior staff (offer them assignments/meetings to grow), use an officewide CALENDAR to track field schedules, and stop focusing on bloated office redesigns/internal corporate programs that could be better spent marketing for a new client or paying their field staff better.
ProsLots of variety in project work, travel to interesting places
I would not recommend this company to anyone - no job security
ARCADIS is run out of HQ in Highlands Ranch, CO. Upper and most senior management seem to run the company with an old style mentality. Too much emphasis on billability and not enough emphasis on client satisfaction. Company has been and is being cut to the bone with massive layoffs and furloughs. Those left are having hours cut. Morale is diving deeper to an all time low. Management seems to think that anyone below a Grade 9 or 10 is expendable. Merit increases and raises were deferred for those Grade 9 and below for 6 months while upper and senior management received incentive bonuses, raises, merit increases,. Company and senior management do NOT lead by example and is very self-serving - creating an "us vs. them" attitude among employees. Left hand does not know what the right is doing most of the time. Company pushes lowering of overhead costs cutting overhead travel, attendance at workshops, conferences, seminars for most staff - yet send administrative managers (some of whom strangely enough have NO billability goals) to meetings, events, seminars on the company dime when the personal attendance of these employees is not necessary - web conferencing would work just fine. I cannot recommend working at ARCADIS when job security is non-existent.
ProsNice Work-Life Balance, Decent benefits
ConsToo much emphasis on billability, Good Old Boys Club mentality, Cient satisfaction not a priority, no job security
For those seeking a successful career, growth, tons of training and mentoring from the best in the industry - don't stop here, keep going. Arcadis grows on acquisition - nothing is organic. In order to please stakeholders, Arcadis buys other companies in hopes of staying profitable - err, afloat. Ask any of the acquired companies, if given the opportunity to partner with Arcadis, if they would do it again? The answer is no. Instead of seamlessly transitioning these other firms, its nothing but chaos. Communication is horrible and accessing the appropriate information you need to effectively complete your job or simply communicate is nothing less of a migraine. The truth is Arcadis, is desperately trying to change its model and streamline markets; the real truth is that it won't solve the obvious issue, in that there is a mass exodus of young talented professionals kicking the walls down to leave.
Like a pseudo-top corporation that is trying to stay on top, Arcadis exemplifies the blueprint, strategy and real life application of slavery in its prime. As much as people want to give this place 3+ stars, the fact of the matter is that there is absolutely NO work/life balance, your co-workers complain about wanting to leave, management is extremely top heavy, the company can barely 'win' work, and there is no opportunity to advance.
My advice to anyone thinking about Arcadis is to think again and keep searching. You will definitely regret it.
I worked at Arcadis for nearly 9 years. In that time worked my way up from a field tech (where all junior staff start, even engineers) to a mid-level project manager. I worked at two offices during my time there with my experience varying drastically between the two offices. Compensation is on the lower end of the spectrum in comparison to other firms but they offer a great benefit package, 401K, remote worker program and, as long as you do good work, it's very difficult to get let go (read as "stable"). Many of the senior folks have worked at Arcadis for their entire careers. Work-life balance is not so great with most staff eating lunch and sometimes dinner at their desks. Senior management advocates for a better balance but that is lost in middle management where they are held to tough annual financial and client development metrics. This is pretty standard throughout the industry. Overall a great place to work with great benefits. Though, it is truly up to the person to manage time/stress and to force your own work life balance.
ProsGreat technical teams, good managers, great benefit package, 401K, remote worker program and job security
ConsLack of work life balance, unnecessary project stress/pressures, a lot of change
I'd recommend staying away from Arcadis (or ARCADIS as they insist it is spelled). My office, the largest in one of the top 10 metro areas, has lost at least 25% of its personnel in the last six months. Some have left on their own, others let go or 'furloughed'. Specifically, the Environmental remediation and industrial hygiene divisions seem to be bleeding personnel. Yet, they look for replacements for people who were let go because of slowing work.
Arcadis is the result of many mergers and the company is still not integrated. In particular, there are overlapping, redundant databases. Being a larger company, there is an extra 2 to 4 layers of management which add to client costs and makes it harder to put together a competitive bid.
Arcadis does manage to hire a good percentage of women engineers and scientists, perhaps being the company that is closest to gender parity in this type of business. That is not easy.
In general, a job seeker should be very wary of Arcadis.
ProsAppears to be a diverse workplace, some big company benefits
ConsScattered IT platforms, Top-Heavy management, losing many qualified personnel
15 years ago I would have written a very different opinion of Arcadis and specifically middle management. However, the firm has traded-in their genuine support for their employees for office politics and very high"corporate expectations."
I felt ignored and received little to no guidance/feedback from management. Because I was a small fish in a very large pond and expendable.
Unfortunately, management treats you like another number, caring about the bottom line so they can keep their non-productive heads above water (think Office Space).
Like most consulting firms, the compensation is high but with an even larger price to pay (your well-being and home life). The company hires young engineers with no experience instead of retaining engineers with decades of loyalty to the company.
I did enjoy my fellow co-workers that were in the same boat. And I wish the few remaining afloat the best.
ProsGood pay, pleasant staff
ConsManagement does not appreciate staff, Overtime (50-60 hour work weeks) expected, Stressful work environment, No life outside of work
I was well compensated and offered a great deal of flexibility, but continuous small amounts of overtime was the norm and to be expected as has been the case in 5 or 6 prior consulting organizations where I've worked. Anyone who complains about that or has different expectations of what is expected of them as a consultant is delusional or very young and has a charming perspective on life. Work is suppsoed to be hard, or they would call it play. It's the price you pay for the compensation offered. The work was nicely varied, interesting, and always demanding. My departure was a simple business decision that while the company was holding its own and our local office was doing reasonably well, I personally had slowed down and didn't react quickly enough to backfill my depleting work load.
Proscompensation, flexibility to work from home, when appropriate
Consshort term, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately thinking is the way of the business world, esp. in a publicly traded company where shareholders are the only stakeholders that matter
Employee experiences are dependent on practice area, office location, etc.
Overall, Arcadis is a decent company to work for, especially for employees in the larger practice areas. There is a good sense of community and company spirit. The company is involved with some interesting projects and has diverse clients in industry and government. I have been part of a smaller practice and it has been harder to feel valued by the company and even by staff in the larger practice areas. Staff who are "go-getters" and who are good at networking do much better here than people who are more technically oriented. Great technical skills alone will not help you advance. You need to be highly motivated and have super polished people skills to get ahead. But some scientists are not gifted with entrepreneurial or great people skills and they fall behind here.
ProsInteresting projects; opportunities for international work; most staff I work with are great people
ConsSlow advancement; low raises; pandemic did affect some staff's hours and benefits (cuts)
5.0
Coordenador de Qualidade | China, MS | Jun 11, 2014
A empresa é organizada e prospera
Sou o responsável pelo sistema de gestão da qualidade na China nas cidades de Shangai, Tianjin e Nantong.
Minhas atribuições são fazer a gestão da qualidade nas fabricas Chinesas visando garantir a aplicação de sistemas de fabricação, processos de validação, fornecendo documentação e equipe de gestão.
Definindo, implementando e gerenciando as atividades relacionadas a qualidade como auditorias do sistema da qualidade, análise crítica de gestão, tratamento de não-conformidades internas e externas e as ações corretivas e preventivas.
Assegurando que os requisitos de qualidade sejam estabelecidos, implementados e mantidos de acordo com as normas ISO 9001 e SGI, elaborando relatórios de desempenho para a gestão e para a análise crítica e melhoria contínua, visando atingir objetivos de qualidade, prazos e custos.
Realizando auditorias , determinando melhorias no sistema e implementando mudanças, desenvolvendo planos de qualidade através da identificação de pontos críticos de controle e medidas preventivas, estabelecendo limites críticos, procedimentos de monitoramento, ações corretivas, procedimentos de verificação e de inventários de monitoramento.
Validando processos de qualidade através da criação de especificações de produto e atributos da qualidade, realizando medições e evidenciando com registro fotográfico, filmagens e documentando, determinando, qualificando o operacional e desempenho da qualidade.
Elaborando e atualizando os procedimentos de qualidade, mantend
Prosempresa organizada
Consfeed back de informações
2.0
Environmental Scientist | Saskatoon, SK | Jan 11, 2018
Bad communication, micromanaging management, poor compensation
At first glance Arcadis seems like a great company to work for - many different areas of expertise and therefore the potential of gaining a good amount of varied experience, a larger company that is well established in North America so the appearance of greater organization and support for employees, and many offices throughout Canada and the US so the appeal of the opportunity to travel to other parts of the country to work and gain experience.
However if it seems too good to be true it probably is, at least in Canada. In the 2 years I worked there the travel opportunities were limited, the professional development completely lacking, and the compensation abysmal. I would attribute the majority of the issues in the company to poor management and communication between offices, and a lack of empathy from the senior leadership for the juniors within the company (field techs, environmental scientists, etc. ie. those who do all the field work!). The overarching impression is one of micromanaging senior leadership and office managers throughout the country that cannot even communicate among themselves let alone to the juniors, nor do they seem willing to accept any help from their eager juniors who want to gain some professional development. If I didn't feel so much like the 2 years I worked there were a waste, I might actually find this funny, since the company claims to want to promote from within to more senior positions. However without any professional development this is
Conspoor professional development, micromanaging management, below average compensation, little opportunity for advancement, no reviews!
Os dias na Arcadis são bem programados, de fácil previsibilidade sobre os fatos que ocorrerão. Há bastante controle e exige bastante eficiência da parte dos colaboradores. Em determinadas situações abrem-se diálogos em outras cumpre-se decisões.
Na Arcadis aprendi bastante, inclusive melhorar a postura, a firmeza para se posicionar, não ter medo de opinar quando se tem segurança, ainda que cause desconfortos em alguns. Pude colocar em prática questões teóricas da minha formação e pude também observar e cometer erros que não podem ser repetidos. Tive a certeza que gentileza e firmeza podem andar sim lado a lado.
A direção e a gerência estão reestruturando a empresa e se adaptando a nova cultura, há uma gestão de processos em curso na empresa e muitos procedimentos tem sido definidos ao longo dos anos e aplicados em doses homeopáticas, para garantir a continuidade das atividades de forma adequada. Acredito que direção e gerência buscam uma relação mais clara com seus stakeholders, voltada ao contemporâneo da gestão empresarial.
A cultura da empresa está em transição em virtude de ter sido adquirida pela holandesa Arcadis em 2012, então há choque entre as vontades de fora e os costumes enraizados por anos da empresa Logos e resistência também por parte de alguns colaboradores. Outra questão cultural que a Arcadis enfrenta no Brasil é o choque de gerações, os jovens cada vez mais modernos e com pensamentos e atitudes liberais e os gestores com um pensamento mais conserv
ProsSalários e benefícios
ConsPlano de carreiras, gestão de pessoas, alinhamento de interesses
Pipelines: Distribution line (DI, HDPE, UPVC, GI, PPR etc) ,pipe network, conduit flow , pipe flow, loss calculation, head calculation, discharge and flow calculation, Pressure test, Jointing, bending, size reducing, Domestic Water Metering/House Connections, bed compaction procedure, trench cutting, trench filling .
Water Projects: Various elements of Water Treatment plant, Sewerage treatment plant, Reservoirs, Transmission pipeline, Domestic Water Metering/House Connections, Pumping station, Distribution network pipeline and overhead water storage Reservoir etc.
Water, Drainage, network System: Sewerage, Drainage line, storm water line, Portable water distribution line Pit, FIC, manhole and Landscaping work in all projects.
Water Projects :
Supervise the Construction of water Transmission up to (1400mm Ǿ to Ǿ 80mm)
projects and Distribution network pipe lines project and Water service house connection,
Embankment Culvert, Buried and above-the-ground pipe installation, Leakage-Testing and mechanical work for D.I, C.S,
HDPE, AC and GRP pipes. Civil work construction of Line valve Chamber, By pass chamber,
Shutt off chamber, ARV chamber, Fire Hydrant (Pillar & Screw down) installation,
Construction of water storage Tank foundation and pumping station.
Familiar with pipe line international code and standards.
Pipe Line Works:-
Construction of pipeline network using D.I,C.S, HDPE,
GRP pipes for pressure lines, main lines
and network
5.0
Técnico de Segurança | São Luís, MA | Aug 28, 2016
Foi satisfatório minha caminhada na empresa.
conhecer as vivências dos Técnicos de Segurança do Trabalho no
desenvolvimento de suas atribuições nas empresas, bem como suas percepções
sobre os reflexos do exercício profissional sobre a sua saúde. Métodos: pesquisa
qualitativa com uso da técnica da Análise Coletiva do Trabalho, na qual trabalhadores
em grupo abordam os aspectos materiais e subjetivos de seu fazer, e posterior
análise de conteúdo dos relatos dos participantes. Resultados e discussão: na
percepção dos Técnicos seu trabalho é caracterizado por limitações constantes no
exercício de suas atividades e por conflitos com os diferentes níveis hierárquicos
das empresas. O desvio de função foi apontado como prática corrente, com
destaque para atividades administrativas e vigilância patrimonial. Os aspectos
identificados como determinantes dessa situação foram: priorização, pelas
empresas, da produção em detrimento da prevenção; inserção frágil do Técnico
na política de segurança das empresas; atuação conflituosa por sua posição
intermediária entre trabalhadores e gestores; ausência de proteção contra despedida
desmotivada; predominância da abordagem comportamental de segurança nas
empresas e entre os próprios Técnicos. Essas limitações e constrangimentos foram
apontados como prejudiciais ao desenvolvimento de ações preventivas e como
causa de sofrimento mental e adoecimento desses trabalhadores.
Recentemente, trabalhei oito anos na empresa Arcadis Engenharia, onde posso ser referenciado por vários profissionais, dado o excelente trabalho que desenvolvi e um forte relacionamento com os valores fundamentais da empresa. Eu realmente acredito nesses valores, e busco sempre praticá-los em todos os meus projetos: integridade, foco no cliente, colaboração e sustentabilidade, entre outros.
O meu foco principal foi preparar e avaliar planos de projetos detalhados para as etapas e aspectos de cada projeto, adotando fortemente a abordagem de minimizar os riscos e maximizar os resultados do projeto no custo e tempo previsto. Nesta posição, demonstrei a capacidade de resolver uma variedade de problemas e com isto alcançar o sucesso nos projetos que trabalhei.
Trabalhar na Arcadis contribuiu significativamente na minha carreira profissional. Tive a oportunidade de trabalhar em várias equipes, em diversos projetos. O marcante sem dúvida é um corpo funcional de alto nível profissional. A cultura da empresa está presente em todas as esferas, vivi esses valores no dia a dia.
Entre tantos diferenciais como empresa de engenharia, a Arcadis tem um excelente padrão de remuneração, além da valorização e investimento no desenvolvimento dos seus colaboradores. Posso dizer com toda certeza que fui muito feliz trabalhando na Arcadis.
ProsExcelentes benefícios
ConsNão tem programa de participação nos lucros
Questions And Answers about Arcadis
How long does it take to get hired from start to finish at Arcadis? What are the steps along the way?
Asked Feb 9, 2017
Usually this is a two month process to accommodate background checks and paperwork once the offer is made. The time required to be made an offer varies by individual and what you bring to the relationship.
Answered Oct 10, 2019
Not long, I was hired within a week of my interview and started two weeks after.
Answered Jan 17, 2019
How are the working hours at Arcadis?
Asked Apr 25, 2017
Shifts day and night
Answered Sep 7, 2018
Most projects have little to no budget and you have to work overtime without being paid for it. (Most of the time, not all the time).
Answered May 4, 2018
What is Arcadis sick leave policy? How many sick days do you get per year?
Asked Aug 3, 2018
Standard. 15-25 days, depending on years of employment
Answered Oct 6, 2021
One per month,12 per year.
Answered Dec 7, 2018
How would you describe the pace of work at Arcadis?
Asked Apr 19, 2017
Good place
Answered Aug 5, 2017
Relaxed but Unorganized
Answered Jun 23, 2017
On average, how many hours do you work a day at Arcadis?
