1) Constant payroll issues - It seems the norm for employees to receive their direct deposit with one week of pay missing. Payroll receives timesheets for each week - if you receive only one time sheet for an employee, and no leave form (whether you have leave or not, a form is required), then you should know that something is missing and investigate further.
2) Retention - The employee retention rate is horrible. From people quitting, to the client removing staff for the most laughable of reasons, the contract loses 6 people for every 4 they hire.
3)Benefits - The 401k is great, however the money paid in to health & wellness can only be used for the insurance plan the contract carries, which is over $1500/ month.
4) Supervisors - Supervisors in title only, they have absolutely zero say in what happens to you as an employee, and will not lift a finger to help you.
5) Equipment - When you are initially issued your equipment, you do not get everything you're required to have. Getting things replaced is almost impossible, but you are inspected, critiqued, and written up each morning by a supervisor for deficiencies, despite having no ability replace equipment. Case in point - unserviceable name tags, flashlights that have burned out bulbs, ballistic vest carriers that are falling apart, radio holders that are broken, OC spray that is expired (they just print out new labels to make them look in compliance).
6) Client - The client isn't really anything Centerra has control over, but as a contractor assigned to the contract, understand you will be treated poorly, even in comparison to other contractors working on site. The supervisory staff on the government side do not treat you as people, and seem to take perverse pleasure in finding you in violation of contract. This is all done passive-aggressively, as people routinely find out that they've done something wrong at the end of their shift, briefed by a supervisor right before they go home. There is no opportunity to grieve or appeal a violation, or see evidence/face your accuser. It is simply accept the violation as they see it, or be removed.
6)Respect - When a person enters in to an employee/employer relationship, certain things are expected, and among those is the understanding that you will be treated as a valued commodity by your employer. You perform a certain skillset for them, which you (and they) are paid for. But there is a colossal disconnect between employees at the contract (project management) level and the regional management (corporate). There is almost no support from higher up, and the impression is that they are clueless about what is happening on their own contracts.
7) Union - You have to belong to a union. They don't tell you this when you're hired, nor do they mention it when you're going to through training. On your first day on site you will fill out an immense amount of paperwork from the on-site staff, and you are then briefed by the union president that your membership is mandatory. Failure to be a member results in you being unable to work on the contract. First, this seems illegal, as you are forced to be a member, or your employer removes you, but in addition, union membership has zero benefits. They can't lobby for workplace improvement, because they naturally have no leverage over the client. They do not work to improve your benefits or quality of life, because that's not in their charter - their sole job is to keep employees on the contract. It is written in to the CBA that you cannot organize a strike or walk off, as that would leave the client understaffed, which in my mind severely limits anything a union can do on your behalf. The consensus is that you pay dues twice a month for the occasional "all-you-can-eat-wings" night. The union actually has no leverage on your behalf when it comes to your benefits or employment.
8) Favortism - This is not as big an issue as it once was, but it still comes in to play, not just at the contract level, but at the client level as well. I have seen people fired for standing two feet from where they were supposed to be removed from the contract, and people asleep at their post (an automatic fire offense) retained. It's all about who you know.
