employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Holder Construction

Engaged Employer

Holder Construction reviews

3.9

84% would recommend to a friend

(328 total reviews)

Beth Lowry

97% approve of CEO

78% positive business outlook

Holder Construction has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 328 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Holder Construction employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Construction, Repair & Maintenance Services industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

328 reviews
1.0
Aug 2, 2020

Kiss work-life balance goodbye

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The expectations held by Holder make work-life balance an impossibility, and you will be miserable because of it. Challenging and interesting projects that provide many opportunities to grow one’s knowledge of the construction field. Many of the programs they use are top of the line, and Holder also provides competitive pay and benefits.

Cons

Holder will throw you to the wolves and stand by while they eat you alive. Kids straight out of college will be put onto complex project with an inconceivable amount of work, and are expected to complete tasks with expert level precision. You will spend every minute of every day on a meeting or phone call, and only once every subcontractor has gone home do you have the chance to begin the work that has been piling up throughout the day. 50 hour weeks is the absolute minimum time you will spend at work. 60 and 70 hour weeks are much more common. I would be at work every day, well into the night, to BARELY keep my head above water. The relentless flood of work never gives you the chance to get ahead of a single tasks, and you will be stuck in a soul sucking cycle of catch-up that never ceases. Along with this, unachievable schedules will be forced upon you, and you will quickly be blamed and reprimanded when deadlines are not met. This is how a number of Holder’s managers lead their project teams: through fear and intimidation. On multiple occasions myself and other colleagues were publicly berated by upper management in front of the office. Regular verbal abuse is used to manipulate you into thinking you’re not working hard or well enough. In turn, everyone stays for long nights in an attempt to avoid the next scolding or judgement. The result of this is an environment that is toxic to its core, absent of any moral or comradery, and does not encourage internal feedback of any kind. This tactic of manipulation is used on project subcontractors as well, who are consistently subjected to Holder’s “my way or the highway” attitude. Holder would much rather bully other companies into submitting to their will than work as a team to overcome obstacles. Everyone is expendable as long as the project gets done and they have some sorry SOB to point fingers at. Holder will bend backwards to please the Owner, even if that means putting their employees through the wringer. Holder preaches about “family”, but will happily ship you off to a project in the armpit of our country. This company will push you to the absolute brink of stress levels a single person can tolerate on a day to day basis. Many people were unable to tolerate it, and throughout my time here I watched countless people walk away. They will try to convince you that the “grass isn’t greener on the other side”, but from my experience with other companies I can promise you that’s not the case. My time at Holder was a fever dream of horrible experiences and I’m glad I got out when I did. For the love of god do yourself a favor… find employment elsewhere.

avatar
Holder Construction Response
5y
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We acknowledge the construction industry has a reputation for long working hours. Performance is a cultural value honoring our hardworking, dedicated associates. We hold our associates to high standards, but encourage everyone to take time off to avoid burnout, and acknowledge the positive effects work-life balance has on performance long term. A differentiating factor among Holder is our hiring and staffing strategy. Holder hires many young associates out of college strategically to set them up for a long career with organic growth in the company. Many associates have 10+ years tenure at Holder and have grown in the company by the opportunity given to them to train younger associates and organically move into higher positions as their managers do at the same time. This strategy gives associates great responsibility early on, and we empower associates to ask for help and speak with their manager should workload become unmanageable. Continuous improvement is one of our cultural attributes, and we are open to all feedback to better ourselves as a company. This year, we went through an associate-led internal audit of all Holder company processes and procedures, analyzing every aspect of our business. This effort solicited feedback from associates, clients, partners, and subcontractors, fueling change across the company.
5.0
Jul 21, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

People, emphasis on culture and improvement, ample opportunity to rise quickly and to be challenged, pay and bonuses increases

Cons

Prioritizing work versus your personal life is challenging. This company (and industry) is very time demanding and this career will continue to be difficult for those timid or unwilling to put in the effort and initiative to make your project and team successful.

avatar
Holder Construction Response
5y
Thank you for sharing your positive feedback. We are proud of the culture we have fostered and the opportunity this culture provides to each associate. We recognize the challenges of work-life balance in the construction industry and appreciate the sacrifices our associates make for the success of our teams and our projects. It is because of this dedication we provide competitive pay and bonus increases to our deserving associates. We encourage open and frequent communication with managers to when workload becomes too overwhelming and plans for Paid Time Off.
5.0
Jun 25, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Company leadership has been great throughout COVID giving town halls and updates every few weeks on the status of us working from home. It’s been great that they’ve added interns this summer with everything going on.

Cons

Will keep piling work on you until you delegate to someone else or you say stop. 50 hours a week in the office is normal and expected but you can take breaks whenever you feel like it.

avatar
Holder Construction Response
5y
Thank you for sharing your feedback. During these unprecedented times, we’ve done our best to keep associates informed and maintain our culture of “care and connect” virtually. We give our associates great responsibility. This responsibility translates to opportunity for every Holder associate to grow in their career quickly. We acknowledge this often leads to heavy workloads and long hours, and we encourage associates to ask for help and let their manager know if they have too many things on their plate.
Viewing 250 - 252 of 328 Reviews

Glassdoor has 402 Holder Construction reviews submitted anonymously by Holder Construction employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Holder Construction is right for you.