Promises just to get you in the door, then not followed through
Pros
Not really pros, but not bad marks against them: autonomy to do your job, I would say this mainly forms from them not having enough people, or having people in similar positions that don't know what they're doing. Therefore supervisors have to spend time holding their hand instead of distributing time more equally. Certain crews they've been able to hire are top notch, some. Most crews brought on are just bodies to fill positions.
Cons
Benefits, hiring practices, accomplishment recognition, leadership, ethics, professionalism. Benefits wouldn't be bad if you're a single person. For a place that beats their chest about being family oriented their benefits package sure doesn't reflect that. Some of the people they hire into the positions they do is questionable at best. Obvious cases of nepotism and friends in higher places. In my previous experience with similar employers, recognizing when good employees do good jobs is typically done by awarding bonuses. Loenbro rolled out a bonus structure that is only project specific. This depends on so many factors that can be out of project staff's hands. Not to mention if you're stuck on a project that is scheduled to last 2+years you're not being recognized for that work until 3 years later. These next two points go hand in hand and compliment hiring practices; leadership and ethics. Typically great leaders are ones that have the strongest moral compass as well as technical skills and understanding of the business. Around the Billings area I witnessed more bad than good in these two areas. Professionalism is an expectation that isn't clearly defined. We would hear about new potential clients that we wanted to make a good first impression with. That is a difficult thing to do when proposals are sent out with spelling and grammar errors and emails are wrote in the same way. Also, when I was interviewed I spent the first 10 minutes regurgitating my resume. This should have been a sign to me about what I was getting in to. An interview is not the time to learn about someone's resume. Last point I would like to make is that in order to move up in this company you need to conform to what other people want instead of being able to forge your own path. For a place that talked about how much growth they are expecting I don't know how this is possible by continuing to stay in a repetitive cycle instead of adding missing cogs to run the machine more efficiently. It you showed any kind of push back or thinking outside the box from what your supervisor had it was usually interpreted as insubordination.
