Pros
The free bar was a great perk Good tangible benefits such as maternity pay, vouchers on your birthday etc
Cons
One of the main reasons I joined Arcadis was seeing the rave reviews from its employees and it’s flexible approach to work/life balance. I accepted a lower than industry salary rate for the promise of a happy work life. Boy was I wrong! I felt like a lone contractor sent to a project and left in the lurch! I’d rather be contracting with the added benefit of extra pay if I wanted that level of engagement. If I wanted that level of engagement I would’ve contracted with the extra pay! Flexible working was scrutinised and discouraged. Workload was heavy. Surprisingly, my old and new workplace were more flexible in their approach and without all the marketing speal. It seems that I was not the only, there were a lot of unhappy faces within the department. Many complained about the same issues, along with lack of promotion, lack of training/charter-ship and questionable management practices. We were regularly asked to vote for the ‘best company to work for’ this may explain the distorted good reviews....! Or maybe it was just my department... who knows?
