With recent contraction of the nuclear industry, the company laid off ~10% of its workforce in 2016. Outlooks for growth are dim, but hopefully this changes one day and more nuclear power plants are built.
As a contract engineering firm, the good pay is offset by a weak benefits package (less vacation, etc.).
The employee owned company pays out massively to its ESOP program, but their vesting schedule is the minimum allowed by law -- you enter the program after 1 year and vest 20% per year after that. This program will not reward you well if you work here <6 years.
HR frequently spam emails cat memes and other articles online to engineers. Regular safety meetings and monthly meetings on company financial status are held over lunch and expected to be attended without pay. Overhead is to be absorbed by projects, but projects are not bid to absorb non-project meetings and other overhead.
The timesheet software that all engineers use is dictated by the accounting department without much concern for or input from those using the software.
Training and personnel development is very weak. The head of training does not have a technical background. The need to keep costs low as a contract firm prevents them from investing heavily into their staff without direct benefits to the company.
The nature of most of their work is not highly technical or innovative, but this is the nature of current modifications/changes at nuclear power plants. There is a lot of boring, tedious paperwork involved. The industry is trying to change this, but it is heavily regulated.
The majority of management-level hires are made externally from their clients. This supports their business because of the experience/connections those individuals have, but advancement to this level is not promising without that background.
