Pros
Atkins has been around a long time and so offers job security. Atkins is such a huge company that I can't be sure that the cons listed below are true of every department.
Cons
There is a really unhealthy culture at Atkins, whereby productivity is placed above staff welfare or quality or work. This is reflected in the lifeless atmosphere within the offices. Even when my work had been completed on time and to a standard which my clients would praise, I was encouraged to work unpaid over time. I was also asked to pressure my team to do the same in order to demonstrate loyalty. This extra contribution is unashamedly referred to by management as ‘giving the extra 10%’. It's really all just a bit of an ego trip for management to know that they have a degree of power over your life. It is heavily implied that this will be a factor when promotions/bonuses are considered. A good work-life balance is encouraged verbally but discouraged in practice. If you go home on time, it's looked upon as you being disengaged emotionally from the job. This results in a lot of people making themselves aimlessly busy to ensure that they look like they're giving 110%. I worked a lot of overtime at Atkins and would often find out that having already completed the work, my overtime would be unpaid. Our departments policy was that if your productivity according to your timesheet is less than 100%, you aren’t entitled to paid overtime, no matter how many extra hours you have put in. Atkins makes claims that they are an environmentally aware and culturally diverse company. This is not the case. Atkins involves itself with some of the most appalling projects which I was ashamed to be a part of. The senior management are driven completely by profit margins rather than any kind of moral compass. If you'd like to know about Atkins' moral compass, don't take it from me. A simple google search of the words 'Atkins Global' and 'corruption' will tell you all you need to know.