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CH2M

Acquired by Jacobs
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CH2M

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CH2M is now part of Jacobs. For up to date information and jobs, please see the Jacobs profile.

CH2M Reviews

3.3

58% would recommend to a friend

(1188 total reviews)

CEO Jacqueline Hinman

Jacqueline Hinman

56% approve of CEO

Ratings by category

4.2

Diversity and Inclusion

3.5

Work/Life Balance

3.4

Culture and Values

3.3

Compensation and Benefits

3.1

Career Opportunities

2.7

Senior Management

Ratings distribution

5 stars

18%

4 stars

30%

3 stars

24%

2 stars

15%

1 star

13%

Top Review Highlights by Sentiment

Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor

Pros
  • "The people were great to work with and helped you grow and realize your potential based on where you wanted to go.(in 125 reviews)
  • "Benefits are good and they offer 401K.(in 70 reviews)
  • "Good pay and experience for internship(in 41 reviews)
  • "good work life balance if you are in the right group and most groups are great.(in 40 reviews)
  • "Great culture and has an outstanting reputation in environmental stewardship.(in 30 reviews)
Cons

Ratings by Demographics

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Found 1,188 of over 1K reviews

Updated Apr 15, 2023

    1. 5.0
      May 2, 2022
      Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee
      Recommend
      CEO Approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Stupendously super duper great wonderful

      Cons

      None I can think of

      1. 2.0
        Sept 21, 2015
        Biologist (TERA Legacy)
        Former Employee, more than 5 years
        Calgary, AB
        Recommend
        CEO Approval
        Business Outlook

        Pros

        Could be a good career launching board. IF you can hack not getting paid for your work and are ok with lying about your skill set so that you can get paid. This is a company that relies on nepotism. You need to know somebody to get work (you only get paid for project work btw. (So yeah that amazing database you want to build for the company to make a task 10x more efficient...that'll be on your own time). And in order to get your foot in the door you need to lie about what you are qualified to do. Yes that's right, there are knobs who know nothing wandering out in the bush with electrofishing backpacks and botanical keys calling themselves aquatics technician and botanists when they don't even know a rainbow from a brook trout or a willow from a herb.

        Cons

        Does not pay employees for the majority of their work. Low emphasis on good quality work. If an employee wants to produce something higher quality and that takes more time, well they won't get paid for that. Also be prepared for bare bones everything. Pencils? Oh, you supply those yourself. Printing? now you have to log into the printer and wait 10 min for a single page of paper. Is that billable? nope, that'll be on your own time. The gist of this is 1. RUN! 2. Don't even think about sending in a resume, worst mistake you'll ever make. 3. Sometimes I think even a place as bad a ghostpine might be better than CH2M.

        10

        Hello, thanks for taking the time to share your experience in Calgary. The fair treatment and compensation of our employees is especially important to us. We read each and every review and we’d like you to know that your feedback on billable time will be shared with the management team.

      2. Join the CH2M team
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        1. 4.0
          May 13, 2017
          Anonymous Employee
          Current Employee, more than 3 years
          Toronto, ON
          Recommend
          CEO Approval
          Business Outlook

          Pros

          - No limit to the technical expertise you can gain. - Very, very interesting and diverse projects. - Good work/life balance. The office is a ghost-town as soon as the clock turns to 5pm. - Some of the coworkers are actually nice people to talk to. - As part of the project team you learn the nitty gritty of all aspects of a project from all the different disciplines (electrical, structural, civil, architectural etc etc). This develops your own technical competency.

          Cons

          - Compensation is not the best. You can keep slaving away and earning an "excellent" rating year after year (the best in your team) and still get only a 2.5% increase in salary. They also make it seem like they are doing you a huge favour by giving this raise. - No concept of bonuses or profit sharing for junior/intermediate level staff. The actual folks doing the work (designing, producing drawings, specifications) do not get bonuses but the upper management whose job is administrative at best earn bonuses from all successful projects. VERY UNFAIR. - Projects are very top heavy. More budgets were allocated for Project Managers and Design Managers rather than the engineers of each discipline to complete their work. Besides why do you need so many managers on even the most basic of projects? All they do is waste budget. - Job security isn't the best, but if you are good at what you do you will generally avoid getting laid off.

          7
          1. 1.0
            Dec 28, 2016
            Senior Engineer
            Former Employee, more than 3 years
            Calgary, AB
            Recommend
            CEO Approval
            Business Outlook

            Pros

            Telecommuting, flexibility in working locations, some great people.

            Cons

            If you don't have top coverage, your time on board is limited; top heavy senior management earning huge salaries and not contributing to the bottom line efficiently. Us technical people doing the work with not support. Client centricity model isn't working; having no overall admin number to charge to if you're not considered a BD person is crazy; using vacation time so as not to incur overhead costs is a widespread practice that no one open admits to but everyone does it. Not a way to manage an organization. Truly care about your people so they don't feel like they are a number on a spreadsheet and only as good as their previous project. There is no loyalty.

            22
            1. 4.0
              Jul 31, 2014
              Anonymous Employee
              Current Employee, more than 5 years
              Recommend
              CEO Approval
              Business Outlook

              Pros

              Good people make the work place somewhere you want to go every day. Some large and exciting projects. A written and referred to book of ethics.

              Cons

              The larger projects are usually staffed with a lot of US people leaving some capable Canadian staff looking for work. Drastic measures with non billable time make the atmosphere tense. This creates a lot of frustration because of the lack of support and effort in the business development. Unfortunately sometimes the lines in the written ethics book get blurred.

              4
              1. 2.0
                Jun 28, 2014
                Project Manager
                Former Employee, more than 5 years
                Calgary, AB
                Recommend
                CEO Approval
                Business Outlook

                Pros

                Poor considering the size of the organisation.

                Cons

                Unethical and lack respect for employees. CH2MHILL bought Tera and demonstrate unethical practices when it comes to staff retention. Tera's Director of HR and VP of communication terminated the employment of many hard working people. Senior management have no clue about the work people do beneath them. Stay away from this company. CH2MHILL has been doing poorly financially which is why they bought into the environmental market. They do not understand the business.

                8
                1. 1.0
                  Sept 13, 2015
                  Anonymous Employee
                  Current Employee, more than 3 years
                  Calgary, AB
                  Recommend
                  CEO Approval
                  Business Outlook

                  Pros

                  with the economy tanking right now, I'm happy I at least have a job.

                  Cons

                  it's like running your own business inside a much larger business that takes 3/4 of your paycheck and offers nothing in return. You are on your own, you have to find your own work, and if your numbers start to slip, you're done. If this company had better compensation, this might not be so bad, but as is, you might as well start your own business. You will still be doing all the work yourself, but you'll get to keep all the money you're billing out at. Oh, and there will probably be less corruption.

                  12
                  1. 2.0
                    Aug 8, 2018
                    Technician
                    Former Employee, more than 3 years
                    Calgary, AB
                    Recommend
                    CEO Approval
                    Business Outlook

                    Pros

                    Corporate environment, entrepreneurial setting In-house, self-directed, uncompensated educational program available

                    Cons

                    Full billable hours are not guaranteed Higher level of discourse and unhealthy competition between employees competing for billable hours Only paid for billable hours Efficiency methods reduce work to being redundant, repetitive and boring. Little innovation or problem solving. Status quo rules. Butt kissing and backstabbing is the best way for career advancement

                    6
                    1. 3.0
                      Jul 11, 2017
                      Safety Specialist
                      Former Employee, more than 3 years
                      Recommend
                      CEO Approval
                      Business Outlook

                      Pros

                      The company have very good benefit package, from health and wellness, education funding, to RRSP good matching rate. In comparing to other companies, the benefits here are really good.

                      Cons

                      Chasing billing codes for most of your day to find where you can bill your time at work, that can get you frustrated sometimes when you feel that you was working hard on many things throughout the day, but you can't find a code to bill your time to.., which is one of the cons for most consulting firms I believe.

                      1
                      1. 1.0
                        May 26, 2016
                        Anonymous Employee
                        Former Employee, more than 3 years
                        Calgary, AB
                        Recommend
                        CEO Approval
                        Business Outlook

                        Pros

                        Some of the coworkers were fun to work with.

                        Cons

                        Horrid communication. Terrible management that are unable and unwilling to reduce billing rates to attract new business. Senior level employees typically do not answer your emails if they do not have the time for you. Work is handed to members of cliques. The CEO is clueless and directionless. I predict ch2m operations in Canada will be bankrupt in less than a year. Do not apply to work for this 3rd rate company.

                        23

                        Thank you for the feedback. We'll make sure this is shared with the Canada management team. Thanks, Matt

                      Viewing 1 - 10 of 1,188 Reviews
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                      CH2M Reviews FAQs

                      CH2M has an overall rating of 3.3 out of 5, based on over 1,293 reviews left anonymously by employees. 58% of employees would recommend working at CH2M to a friend and 34% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -7% over the last 12 months.

                      According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, CH2M employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.3 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at CH2M. This rating has decreased by -3% over the last 12 months.

                      58% of CH2M employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated CH2M 3.5 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.4 for culture and values and 3.1 for career opportunities.

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                      HR Generalist

                      If asked what type of management style to you prefer? How do you feel about micromanagement? How do you answer this professionally? Nobody likes micromanagement so why ask? Maybe bc the manager there does?

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                      Morgan Stanley

                      In an interview is it a good practice to draw examples for answering situational questions from the most recent and relevant experience or should I draw examples from other previous experiences as well?

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