Work-life balance
Work-life balance at Osmose Utilities Services Inc is nonexistent. You are expected to have 40 hours a week of productive time. This does not include driving your own vehicle to and from the worksites. They will however put you up in a cheap motel!!
Pay & benefits
My pay and benefits at Osmose Utilities Services Inc are Not great. Benefits do not kick in until six months after start. At that point you get the benefits but they are some of the worst I have seen the cost out-of-pocket is unbelievable
Job security and advancement
In terms of job security at Osmose Utilities Services Inc, It states in the handbook That they can terminate you at any point for any reason. The turnover rate with this company is huge.
Management
In general, managers at Osmose Utilities Services Inc give you a quick BS training and then send you out on your own with little to no knowledge on what you’re doing. Supervisors may not be in the area that you were working as well. You are expected to come up with your own solutions for your problems.
Culture
Collaboration with my colleagues at Osmose Utilities Services Inc is that you do not work with anybody you are by yourself. There are a bunch of dangers with this job. You are expected to go on private property with no trespassing signs. There are dogs and snakes and people that come out with guns. And no one will check on you all day until the next day if they don’t hear anything. Meantime you could be shot in someone’s field!!
O
Pros
You won't have to live off government cheese as much. You will definitely see some parts of the country that you had no idea existed.
Cons
Have you seen these adds posted all over the place from this employer who always seems to be hiring? I worked for Osmose as a Foreman for just over one year. I was told by a veteran employee that new hires generally leave within 6 months, so I suppose I actually beat the odds.
The biggest issue with this company is that they don't pay their employees for "nonproductive" hours worked without prior approval from middle management. This includes truck, tool, and equipment maintenance; loading and unloading supplies; processing payroll; etc. Basically, if you're not digging or slinging pesticides you're not getting paid. Middle managers are salaried plus bonuses, so definitely jump on anything above the Foreman position.
Also, the administrative burden of the business is placed on the Foreman, i.e. new hire applications, W-4's, e-Verifies, and all supporting documentation. This is on top of daily payroll processing and pesticide treatment reports which is all deemed "nonproductive," and hence, unpaid. You have to be good at paperwork too, because Crew Members generally earn $10 an hour with no medical, dental, or eye care benefits, which means you will always be hiring.
You should like to travel. While motels and gas are paid, meals are generally not reimbursed. Getting bonus money is technically possible if you can exceed their lof
1.0
Production Technician | Atlanta, GA | Dec 20, 2018
Make America Great Again
I do have a few good things to say about Osmose. This company did provide a good benefits package and the ability to work from home for some was a definite plus, but that's were it ends. If you have any discernment and you take a look at the Organizational chart for Osmose, in particular, Technical Services, it already tells a story. In general, there are very few women in upper management, and there are probably 2 African Americans in management positions for a company that employs over a thousand people. Racism can be both overt and subtle, conscious and unintentional and all the above is a part of Osmose's workplace culture. Of course, you probably wouldn't notice it if you meet their criteria, or if you did notice, silence is golden if it is working for you. Upper management is content with turning a blind eye to unfair racial practices because they are either secretly in agreement or they are indifferent as long as Osmose continues to meet the bottom line ($$$). There is definitely a glass ceiling for those who don't meet the criteria (race), but of course for show to the public and their clients, Osmose will do the bare minimum regarding upward mobility. This is a place where supervisors can get their friends hired immediately because they meet the criteria, while employees that came in before or during the same time have to prove themselves before obtaining a permanent position. During my employment at Osmose, several departments under Technical Services in t
ProsBenefits
ConsManagement Structure That Does Not Embrace Everyone.
Have you seen these adds posted all over the place from this employer who always seems to be hiring? I worked for Osmose as a Foreman for just over one year. I was told by a veteran employee that new hires generally leave within 6 months, so I suppose I actually beat the odds.
The biggest issue with this company is that they don't pay their employees for "nonproductive" hours worked without prior approval from middle management. This includes truck, tool, and equipment maintenance; loading and unloading supplies; processing payroll; etc. Basically, if you're not digging or slinging pesticides you're not getting paid. Middle managers are salaried plus bonuses, so definitely jump on anything above the Foreman position.
Also, the administrative burden of the business is placed on the Foreman, i.e. new hire applications, W-4's, e-Verifies, and all supporting documentation. This is on top of daily payroll processing and pesticide treatment reports which is all deemed "nonproductive," and hence, unpaid. You have to be good at paperwork too, because Crew Members generally earn $10 an hour with no medical, dental, or eye care benefits, which means you will always be hiring.
You should like to travel. While motels and gas are paid, meals are generally not reimbursed. Getting bonus money is technically possible if you can exceed their lofty production quotas. Keep in mind that utility poles are often in swamps, inside fences, on private property, or in the middle of nowhere. As you
Prosmotels, gas, company truck.
Consno "nonproductive" pay for foremen, lack of benefits for crew members, heavy extended travel.
Warning..!! They will replace or fire you with no warning
I went to there school as a foreman. I had a terrible time getting my work loads from my new supervisor...would be standing in the field for 2 hours waiting. And i still wouldnt get it..have to shut down work and wait til next day at 8am. And this was on a monday after driving 5 hrs to get there and work 4 hrs in the field. On top of all the hard work and effort if you do 1 thing wrong. Not paper ur pole 18in and its 16 OR critiqued on your work and if its close your still fired. you will be terminated on the spot without warning or able to correct your work. No job relocation to a easier job or nothing...you will BE TAKEN TO THE NEAREST BUS STATION AND DROPPED OFF WITH YOUR CREW FAR FROM HOME AND THEY WILL GET YOU AS CLOSE TO HOME AS THEY CAN EVEN WITH 100 LAYOVERS! They DONT CARE ABOUT YOU BECAUSE THEY HAVE 5 FOREMAN IN SCHOOL TO REPLACE YOU! THEY HAVE A HIGH TURNOVER RATE AND THEY HAVE A ASSEMBLY LINE OF PEOPLE TO REPLACE YOU IN A WEEK AT THE SLITEST MISTAKE! WHile workin there i saw guys fired every week a few at a time and there was 12 foreman at a location, within 2 weeks there was 5. This is coming from experience! I thought i was doing great and was told so for the entire time i worked up until the week i was let go for a small mistake. Which i corrected. But it didnt matter. So be warned if you choose to take this path at osmose and waste ur time at school and in the field this can happen to you...i thought it wouldnt happen to me because i was TOLD REPEATEDLY i was
ProsYou can make your own bonuses with your own hard work
ConsNO PERDIEM, travel pay is too job 1 time, no job security for mistakes, new supervisors have no clue how to help you with your job so dont get one, no help from hr
I worked at osmose for roughly around six months here's my honest review while the pay was 23 an hour starting which was more than I've ever made it hardly made up for the lack of clarity the company doesn't have I was told in the hiring process that I would work in a region consisting of four states being Tennessee Alabama Georgia in the west panhandle of Florida and never saw one of them in the five months I was there and when I asked about it they simply said that there was no work however that was the reason I took the job in the first place it was because it was local to my house. I worked in Pennsylvania for 2 months and then on my third month out there they tried to send me to another area in Virginia 8 and 1/2 hours away and told me I'd only be able to go home one weekend every two weeks which is nowhere near what I was told in the recruitment process. It's extremely hard to hire your own crew when they only let you hire them $14 an hour because nobody wants to work for that much that far away. and if they don't like you they'll simply just try and get rid of you they don't waste any time writing you up. The majority of supervisors aren't bad they are actually really good at their jobs but the micromanagement is on a molecular level. Only issue with supervisors I could say is that they definitely have favorites and give special contracts out to the people that have been there longer. call so they'll tell you a lot about bonuses and how much extra you can make an hour
ProsForeman get per diem for workdays not weekends, rewards points for hotel
ConsSketchy crew, zero job stability, wore out vehicles, travel far from home. No compensation for rain days. Production rate is ridiculous.
4.0
Senior Engineering Technician | Remote | Oct 20, 2021
Overall great place to work
Overall I enjoyed working at Osmose because they have been good about keeping politics out of the work place in a time when politics are creating a big rift in our country. I also really enjoyed the work because there is a lot to learn in this industry and the work keeps you busy all day. A lot of these tech jobs where you need degrees pay the same as Walmart to start now, but when I worked there I thought the pay was pretty good (not at the beginning though). They also allow you to work remotely which helps with work/life balance and offer full-time remote positions for those who do not live close to one of their office locations. Working remotely, while convenient, isn't all what it is cracked up to be. Email communication was essential to me showing/explaining to others complicated scenarios. My emails were largely ignored and I was left wasting a lot of my own time trying to figure out how to fix something that I was never taught how to do. My job was sort of the last in line, so I had to deal with all the issues people were either unaware of or too lazy to address before passing onto me. Training me to do their job might have fixed that issue and I had suggested to them the need to cross-train. This is production though and therefore little to no time for training. They did have good initial training and support though. Unfortunately, some really smart people left and it went a little down hill after that. I also started out as a temp worker who had to wait o
Revolving door, company does not value employee time or safety.
I loved this job and I was good at it, but the company is more concerned about their trucks than their employees. I witnessed several good employees lose their job due to denting the company truck on a tree (no injuries or property damage). Keep in mind you are sent into the backcountry in a fullsize pickup and with dangerously inaccurate maps and slow mapping software. A day in the life of a field data tech is something like this: wake up in a cheap hotel you shared with a guy you just met, try to find something decently healthy to eat, get your assignment from your supervisor (poor guy is stretched so thin), hit the road and try to inspect as much line as you can in 7.5 hrs (the faster you go, the more bonuses you collect), go back to the cheap hotel, rinse repeat. You end up going to a different area (sometimes near sometimes far) about every 3 days. Head home on Friday if you can make it there before 10 PM, otherwise you drive home Saturday, sleep in your own bed one night, and then drive back up on Sunday. No pay for the ~16 hours spent driving the company truck on the weekend. The work was easy and fun if you like hiking, the hard part is trying to find the utility line (it's rarely where the map says it is) and dealing with local yokels who don't take kindly to people poking around their land. They receive no notice that you are coming and your only credentials are a hardhat and safety vest, so its not uncommon to have weapons pulled on you when you're on someone's la
ProsFresh air
ConsYour body could be well hidden before anyone realizes you're missing.
I worked for Osmose, and sadly my first foreman didnt pass his test. Well, the next one I worked for was a decent dude, and knew I was trained to be a Certified Pole Treater.
Well, that went right out the window. I was given a shovel, and sent to dig poles, and usually was assigned the ones the others in the crew didnt want. This was done as "conditioning", and after one of our crew members left for Foreman school, a new person was brought onto the team, and I had to train him everything that day, and without being told, during a dig where everything around the pole was boulders, which I notified my Foreman of, I was randomly tested on my speed, and it took 50 minutes.
Later on, as we are leaving, my Foreman texted somebody (I peeked over his shoulder because I didnt trust him) and he had sent to his supervisor that I took 50 minutes, and that he would let go of me. Well, I noticed him also text another person and text "Can you make it to here by tonight".
Basically, we got back, and right as I was about to shower, I was told that I was fired for being too slow, and that I wouldn't be production worthy. After which, I was told by another employee that the new crew member was infact a member of my foreman's synagogue.
To put it bluntly, I was fired so that my foreman could bring in his family and friends, which is supported by the fact that my foreman had even hired his own brother, and used me as a way of keeping his brother from being fired.
Don't work for this company
ProsHotel Reservations made for you, transport.
ConsNo breaks, 10 minute lunch, pragmatic foremen, lack of regard for safety, no training.
I started this job GPS locating 5 counties of roads. From here I was trained to conduct a GPS/GIS inventory for a Electric Utility Co-op. Where I learned the assembly construction for this Co-op's power distribution units. When I was out on my own a few weeks, I was asked to train the other new employees for this job. I went on to train over twenty other techs to do this job. I was responsible for the maintenance and troubleshooting of the Trimble GPS units we used. I was promoted to job foreman, where I was required to be responsible for the payroll and keeping the expense reports for the company's trucks my crew used. I was also required to conduct weekly safety meetings for my crew on various safety aspects we would come across in the field. I was promoted to work in the Co-op's main office where I was trained to deferentially correct the field GPS locations. I was also trained to run QC's on field work. I was also trained and required to create Archview maps for use of the Co-op to put into their own system.
The hardest part of this job was the volume of information that was required of me to learn well enough to train others to do this job, I believe I did very well in this aspect of this job.
The most enjoyable part of this job for me. To learn all of the different types of skills that I was required to use in this job. As well as being able to lead a successful crew from begin to end of this project across a wide variety of difficult terrain and difficult weather condi
Prosability to learn and use cutting edge technology
Conslack at the time to have bosses who understand the work issues involved in this type of job.
Questions And Answers about Osmose Utilities Services Inc
What is the schedule like? "Example 6 days on 3 days off".
Asked Nov 5, 2016
I worked 9 days on 2 off it's not worth the money or time they are a bad company to work for as I just left because they don't give you the water that they are suppose to provide! Can't work in 97 degree weather in the hot sun and not have anything to drink end up quitting due to heat stroke
Answered Aug 13, 2020
Your work week depends on your foreman. You can easily work a 5 day 40+ hour week and go home. If your close enough. If not, then yes you may work a 6 day work week. But your not going home so why not make the money. You can shift your week to make a longer weekend at home as well. Just hit your 40 hrs, maybe some OT and cash that check. And every contract I've worked besides maybe one, does not allow work on sunday, so you WILL have a day off
Answered Jun 10, 2020
Do you have to share your hotel room or do you get your own?
Asked Apr 5, 2017
We all can share the room for the job purpose
Answered Mar 28, 2020
Yes. Policy is two per room but there's ways it can be an odd number of people an your the third wheel. You can purchase your own and u get a discount because you work for the company
Answered Oct 5, 2019
What tips or advice would you give to someone interviewing at Osmose Utilities Services Inc?
Asked Jul 28, 2016
If you get a good manager over your territory the hard work you put in will pay off
Answered Sep 12, 2020
You’re on the road consistently, not the job for you if your time matters with your kids or wife. If your single jump aboard and take the challenge.
Answered Feb 24, 2020
How flexible are your working hours at Osmose Utilities Services Inc?
Asked Apr 22, 2020
60 hrs a week
Answered Jan 5, 2021
Is this a joke question . I never once got a day off . not even for doctors appoinments .
Answered Dec 2, 2020
What is the best part of working at Osmose Utilities Services Inc?
Asked Dec 16, 2019
The best part is ..... I had to think about this but there is no beat part. Its more like what do issues do you want to let go today .
