Pros
In the 12 years I've been at CH2M I've had the opportunity to see the company grow from about 8000 employees to now around 24k. The good... I've always benefited from the flexible work schedule that CH2MHILL prides itself upon. This flexible work schedule provides me the ability to better maintain and manage my work-life balance. I also work with some of the best resources in the business. I'm always impressed with the knowledge base and like the ability to tap those resources whenever the need arises. The projects that I've gotten to see are typically interesting, keep me engaged in my work, and keep me learning.
Cons
The bad in my 12 years... When I arrived at CH2M HILL, one of the statements I continually heard was, "People are our greatest asset." To me, this seems to be the thing that has gone down hill the most since I've been here during which time we've trended toward being a large corporation. While transforming to being a large corporation may be "growing pains" endemic of growth, it is resulting in a loss of CH2M HILL's "family feel" which so many other posters have eluded to. As with any corporation, CH2M HILL works to reduce overhead costs. While this is understandable, often overhead cost cuts means limited/no budget for overhead and business development activities. This simply works to erode project performance/margins and results in many, many "donated" hours to the cause of bettering CH2M HILL. Recently, CH2M HILL shifted the burden of cell phone costs to the employee and provided an allowance for a portion of the cost. The problem with this is (1) Many employees use the cell phone exclusively for work and should be reimbursed for the full value, (2) Even if the employee uses the cell phone for personal use, most if not all employees "donate" so much additional time to the company, that the additional money to cover the full cost of the cell bill is more than offset by the employee's hard work. Another statement I continually heard when I arrived at CH2M HILL was that "we are a company that sells our technology" or "CH2M HILL is always on the cutting edge." However, conference and technology budgets are continually being reduced. My concern is that eventually these budgets are cut so deep that we can't rely on our tech savvy to win us work...once that happens, I guess we'll simply be a commodity engineering firm doing commodity work. The bonus pool continues to shrink with little to no recognition for lower level employees. Fewer and fewer people who are at higher and higher levels are the only ones benefiting from the bonus pool. Interestingly, upper management sets the rules and benefits the most from those rules. Finally, there seems to be a general feeling among staff that the front line employee isn't listened to and that the executive level are surrounded by a bunch of "yes men (and women)". No one in their right mind would "rock the boat" and so executive leadership probably doesn't hear the whole story.
