Pros
Worldwide organization with job opportunities around the globe. Recognized name within the industry. Good company for designers, architects or engineers.
Cons
The bottom line for the company takes precedent over employee development particularly at the mid level grades (11-14). Not very good at implementation of field work. Can design projects but don't have competent construction planners. Annual restructuring of business units as the market shifts. This is especially true for the Middle East (MENA) region. The employee development and review process is a joke. The PDR is completed every Mar-Apr and then it's just a check box on a list. It's not used for promotion or development and if you change jobs or managers mid year forget about the PDR. Nothing from the previous year will be applicable. The PDR is a cut and paste exercise that most employees hate. Salaries are generally lower than the market rate due to structure of the contracts. Atkins tends to bid low to win the work and then find people willing to work for lower salaries while releasing more senior staff that have become too expensive. Promotion from within is limited and takes years. Annual salary increases are 0-2% if your lucky. Once you do achieve an increase you are a liability to the profit driven bottom line. You're better to leave and come back to get a promotion or salary increase. Performance on several contracts has deteriorated because competent staff have left or been made redundant due to the low salary threshold that Atkins has. Replacement or newly hired staff are brought in based on their salary expectations and not competency.