23
eNPS Score
Q&A With Arcadis Employees
A flexible and people centric working culture designed for your needs At Arcadis, we believe that diversity hones our competitive edge and contributes to our company's strength. It is through a diverse workplace that we get innovative ideas, that make a difference to our projects and to the value that we deliver to our clients. ?????????????? All Arcadis colleagues are meant to feel part of an inclusive culture that allows them to give their very best self, in and out of work. ?????????????? From an award-winning diversity program in the UK, to being recognized as an Employer of Choice by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency in Australia for two years in a row, we give diversity and inclusion the focus it deserves. Flexibility at Work We believe that having a flexible approach to work, allows our people to work in a way that suits their needs now and in the future. You will have the flexibility to define a working life that works for you. Because we know, that you need to be empowered and trusted to work in a way that creates a positive life balance. With a flexible mindset, we will help you balance life, including providing working arrangements to allow for family support, study, working from home, parental leave, and even starting early and leaving early to beat traffic.
How employees describe working at Arcadis
Good project teams and communication
Everyone is proud of what we do.
Meal tickets and health insurance.
Review from Engineering Dept
Knowledgeable, easy to work with, no micro management.
Excellent work environment and a lot of autonomy in how projects are developed and executed.
Review from Engineering Dept
What it's like to work at Arcadis
- Arcadis employees generally work 8.8 hrs a day
- Employees at Arcadis report the work pace is comfortably fast
- 81% of Arcadis employees look forward to interacting with their team every day
- Arcadis employees most often take 20-30 paid vacation and sick days each year
- 86% of Arcadis employees report they are happy with their work life balance
- Arcadis employees never get valuable feedback on how to improve at work
- 76% of Arcadis employees call their work environment positive
Q&A With Arcadis Employees
IDX: 0 TOT: 61
How's the feedback process at Arcadis?
Once a year you fill out a survey.
Complicated and only once per year, unless we are super busy. You don’t receive feedback every year.
The feedback process is one that is very formulaic and been designed by the human resources department at the company. The review process does not happen every year either because workloads may demand supervisors’ attention.
How's the morale at Arcadis?
no body cares nobody
Lousy
The morale at the company is horrible because executive leadership doesn’t bring any business to the table and do not inspire. The company has been through several CEOs in recent years.
What is the best advice you could give someone during their first month at Arcadis?
youth and cheap are their requirement
Avoid booking time to overheads at all costs. Great engineering staff, disconnected non engineering management
Make sure you meet your supervisor in person, sign up for the 401K, employee stock program, complete your benefits, and the on boarding training.
Does Arcadis drug test or do a background check?
Do they do a follicle test?
Yes.
Yes, they do both.
How's the leadership on the Engineering team at Arcadis?
The project managers and your immediate supervisor will show great leadership. However senior leadership at the corporate level does not exist and is not inspirational. The project managers and your immediate supervisor will show great leadership. However senior leadership at the corporate level does not exist and is not inspirational.
New employees will find leadership at their local office among project managers and principal scientists and engineers. However leadership outside of the office including senior leadership at the corporate level is significantly lacking an not inspiring. Every six months to a year leadership completely goes in a new direction because their business plans that are put into motion are found not to work. The CEO in North America and the CEO in Europe have changed numerous times since 2010. The CEOs , division presidents and other senior managers have no business development goals and no billability goals and add to the overhead at the company which has led them to outsource many jobs. Despite the large size of the company the number of hours billed to projects companywide has dropped by close to 25% over the past three years. Corporate officers continue to have webinars about how great we’re doing rather than actually work as bread winners for the company.
Improving
What do you wish you knew before starting at Arcadis?
any honest people exist there?
Avoid booking time to overheads at all costs
What is the dress code at Arcadis?
easy
depends upon the office
If you could make changes, how would you improve the culture at Arcadis?
be human and sincere
I would replace senior leadership not only at the National level but also at the executive level in Amsterdam. Senior leadership at Arcadis is about cheerleading and not bringing business into the business. The bread winners are middle managers with no incentives or bonuses to win and the senior leadership only adds to already high overhead. Most of the senior leaders have been selected from outside the company because they are supposed to be good C level executives according to their CV, but because they aren’t part of the business and don’t understand the culture, high level decisions are made without a fundamental understanding of why we wake up every day and go to work or how we do our jobs.
How are layoffs handled in the Engineering department at Arcadis?
Top Employee Response
If a senior manager fails to win bids, you can end up booking to overheads and no matter how hard you have worked, or how many extra hours you have put in, or how many projects you have saved, any unbillable hours are the kiss of death when the share price drops.
Layoffs are generally decided at the corporate level through a review of billable hours metrics. The decision to lay people off is made without regard for factors in an employees life that may have contributed to a bad quarter or how the employees departure will impact their project teams. Junior staff bear the brunt of layoffs instead of senior executive leadership who have no billing goals and no marketing goals so their salaries are purely overhead. Executive leadership is disconnected from the people who actually sell and do the company’s work and do not understand exactly what it is the middle managers and junior staff actually do so they make decisions about engineering with their fancy MBAs. So let me ask, if you’re constipated do you call your plumber or you doctor? Arcadis prefers the plumber because he’s cheaper than the doctor.
What's the internship program like at Arcadis?
There are few internships.
Arcadis rarely entertains internships because of the requirements concerning OSHA Hazwoper training.
What's the work from home policy like at Arcadis?
If you’re mainly in an office position you can work from home often. Working from home always makes you a remote worker and then you aren’t allowed at an actual office. It’s a little difficult for field people to work from home.
You can work from home if you wish, unless you are entry level and your job requires field work
How difficult is it to maintain a social life while in your job at Arcadis?
It is very easy to maintain a social life while working for the company because there is a culture of work life balance.
The company offers a great work life balance
How's the work pace at Arcadis?
This is a fast pace workplace.
This is a fast-paced working environment with critical deadlines always happening.
What unique perks and benefits does Arcadis provide?
The company offers a substantial discount on the purchase of Company stock.
The company allows employees to buy company stock at 85% of the market rate.
What's the Engineering team like at Arcadis?
Because the engineering team includes thousands of individuals doing different projects in different disciplines there’s no single way to describe the team. However folks who are on the engineering team are very qualified to be in the positions that they are in.
The engineering team is staffed by experienced qualified technical individuals.
What was the most difficult question that was asked during your interview at Arcadis?
There are no trick questions during an interview. If you’re qualified for the position the questions are not difficult either
To my knowledge Arcadis does not ask trick questions; just be yourself .
Who did you meet with during your interview? And how long did it take to hear back from Arcadis?
I interviewed with my future boss his boss another project manager and someone who would be a colleague. Because I met with so many people the process took four hours to complete.
Interviews are typically with your future boss, that person’s boss, a project manager who might be on your team, and a colleague who is at your level.
What Engineering department questions did Arcadis ask during your job interview?
Simply I was asked about my prior education experience and prior professional experience.
Many questions revolved around which subjects and projects were completed in school. But interviews have changed dramatically since I was hired ages ago.
In your opinion, what are the most common interview questions that Arcadis asks?
What projects have you been involved with in the past? What do you like to do outside of work?
This varies significantly by office and by specific field which the candidate might be asked to work in. Candidates may fail an interview in one office and get hired in a different office.
What does the ideal candidate in the Engineering department look like at Arcadis?
Technically qualified and personable
The ideal Arcadian is well groomed well spoken and they are experts in their field of study. Arcadians have personalities and active lives outside the office or when not working.
What kind of interview questions do they ask when hiring someone in the Engineering department at Arcadis?
What did you study in school? What projects have you been involved with previously? What do you do outside of work?
Because it depends on which engineering field a candidate chooses (environmental, water, infrastructure) and the business needs of each particular office this is a difficult question to answer. Typically candidates need the qualifications and experience to fill specific positions which is vetted during the interview process. Recent graduates and entry level candidates should provide a college transcript and everyone needs to pass a drug test and criminal background check. Your resume must be immaculate to get an interview; because we receive hundreds of resumes each week we can’t interview everyone who applies. Masters degrees, not PhDs, and high GPA scores preferred, but BS and PhDs do find employment.
What should I wear for an interview at Arcadis?
Dress conservatively and in your best clothing. In other words wear your best suit or dress.
Business professional
What is the company mobility like at Arcadis?
Top Employee Response
bad
What kind of activities do employees at Arcadis participate in outside of work?
plenty but useless
How are the healthcare options at Arcadis?
bad
Curious about what work's like at Arcadis?
Anonymously Ask Arcadis Employees Any Question
Should I work at Arcadis?
51% of Arcadis employees would encourage their friends to become coworkers, whereas 21% are neutral and 28% would not recommend working at Arcadis to their friends.
| 51% | Promoters |
|---|---|
| 21% | Passive |
| 28% | Detractors |
