Pros
Lucas Tree has a well thought out Mission Statement and strong Safety culture. Upper management and ownership does a good job of living up to the standards they've set and leading by example. This is a good job for a young person living in a rural area, whose options may be limited. I went from making $11 an hour to $17 an hour in a little more than a year. There aren't a lot of companies that can offer that level of wage growth for a job that doesn't require any previous experience to start. Great benefits. Healthcare and dental coverage are high quality. 10 days PTO and 401k with a match after a year. There is an hourly bonus incentive system that is production based. If you can make bonus on a regular basis, it can drastically increase your take home pay. More on this later..... Employee's initial pay raises are directly tied to the acquisition of licenses issued by the State of Maine: Utility Arborist License, Commercial Driver's License (Class B) and Commercial Pesticide Applicators License. These licenses are mostly paid for by the company but are in the name of the employee, so if you leave the company, you take them with you. This is a physically demanding job. You're working outside, in all weather, year round, trimming and removing trees, out of a 50'-70' tall bucket truck around 12,000 volt power lines along the side of the road. The job can be very fun and incredibly arduous at the same time. It takes a certain mindset to be able to find joy in a job with this degree of hazard and difficulty. While the job is replete with potentially fatal hazards and never-ending pressure to constantly produce, if you have a strong work ethic, love the outdoors and have an adventurous side, it can be incredibly rewarding.
Cons
It's difficult to overstate the degree of hazard associated with Utility Line Clearance tree trimming. It has been estimated by some industry experts to be the 2nd or 3rd most dangerous job in America, somewhere between logging, mining and commercial fishing. On job injuries are routine and Lucas had a fatality in 2017. The company puts a lot of money and effort into safety education and training. If you follow the guidelines and company policies, its possible to work your entire career without having an injury or incident. Neither myself nor anyone on my crews were ever a part of one in three years. Nonetheless, the hazards are everywhere. The production pressure is immense and the goals set by the company are completely unrealistic. Work is in the form of contracts with power companies and is aggressively bid on by multiple tree care companies very competitively. The desire to hold on to territory and expand into new territory leads to a pressure cooker work environment at the management level and runs directly contrary to some of the safe work practices that are necessary for the employees in the field. Profit margins in this industry are relatively small and there isn't a lot of money to go around. Supervisors and middle managers don't make as much money as most field employees think. Once you've obtained all your licenses, getting a raise as a foreman is impossible. I went from $11 to $17 in just over a year and then made $17 for the next two. Supervisors are overworked and undertrained. The company has a litany of policies and hardly any follow through to make sure they are actually being implemented. Multiple supervisors complained to me directly about the lack of support in hiring and disciplining employees. I never received a yearly review in three years. Lucas has a major problem attracting and retaining qualified employees. This is probably the ultimate issue they face. Relatively low wages, no required experience and a hazardous profession is a toxic combination that leads to a lot of field level employees with poor work ethic and bad attitudes. I've never worked at a place that was less diverse or inclusive. The majority of their employees seem to have little or no desire to respect or obey established safety or quality guidelines set by the company. Concern for tree health is completely non-existent. Meetings and conferences are viewed as a waste of time. All of this is exacerbated by a bonus structure that is solely focused on production(number of miles of power lines trimmed per week). The more mileage you trim, the more you get paid. Almost immediately safety, quality, teamwork and professionalism go right out the window. Guys lie, cheat and steal work in order to pad their numbers. There are myriad stories of employees covering up property damage or pressuring subordinates not to report injuries in order to hold onto their bonus money.