Pros: on-site company vehicle use, top quality equipment, ability to schedule some work assignments, good peer team, ability to master new skills
Cons: no company loyalty to employees - "disposable", inept local company office and hr management
Although I worked long hours on a short-notice rapid-changing schedule, sometimes for weeks on end without a break, I generally enjoyed this job and would have liked to extend it into a long-term career.
My team was well organized and we worked well together - It was a pleasure working with most of these men & women. I enjoyed the diverse temporary
– more... assignments at other area copper mines. With team input, I had some latitude to organize daily work schedules and mandatory daily obligations to optimize project effectiveness while minimizing pressure on the team.
Had the division's local higher management been on par, this would have been a dream job! Unfortunately the local company management was a significant disappointment. The local office manager was extremely disorganized, routinely AWOL from company business during office hours, rarely visited the project, and provided almost no support. The Project Engineer, the most incompetent I have encountered in 25 years, spent most of his time surfing the Internet on non-work related web sites at the field office or attending numerous daily "water cooler" meetings where work-related dialog was the exception to the rule. He lacked people-skills and loved "no-decision" meetings. In the rare occasion that the Project Engineer actually went out on site, it was usually to provide a tour to an important visitor or a MWH VP, literally 2 hours in the work area per week was the norm. Two positions filled with a vacuum.
"Disingenuous" is the primary word I would use to describe MWH Human Resources management, a significant detriment to the company. HR management consistently made promises to employees never kept, such as fast-tracking all employees into other projects at the conclusion of the present contract, and failing that, promising to provide employment placement in other divisions, and failing that, promising to provide employment placement assistance outside the company. At the conclusion of the project contract, employment of all teams was terminated with as little as a 1-day notice and no reemployment assistance was provided.
To be fair to MWH Americas, Inc., I have been told through the network grapevine within MWH, that management in MWH's Mining Division is the exception to the rule, that other divisions are much more competent and attentive toward their workforce personnel.
There are a lot of good people I have met within MWH, however, I would suggest that the CEO should take a proactive stance for a thorough house-cleaning of all the detrimental management and field "chaff" that are abusing company resources and mitigating success and growth. – less