There is, literally, nothing that can be considered good about this company.
Pros
There are no Pros working here.
Cons
Oh where to start? The list of cons for Sargent & Lundy is long, and growing. Just as you think you're nearing the end, ready to turn the corner and focus on the positives, you feel that cold and callous heel of management's boot come down on your neck. One of the worst aspects of S&L is a horrible work culture; backstabbing by peers (and management!), throwing people under the bus by peers (and management!), and favoritism by management abounds. Management is focused 100% on short term project success, no consideration is given to employee well being, personal life, or mental health nor for the long term success of the company. This includes violating long held norms with respect to field assignment notification and expected work hours practiced virtually everywhere else in the industry. Lot's of fear mongering by management when they're looking for chumps to fill field assignments. Discipline managers have directly implied that everyone not accepting a field assignment will be subject to layoffs. I'm sure that's legal, but it's messed up. Some of these poor old guys have nowhere else to go, and managment knows it. Hearing stuff like that panics them. Management keeps winning field work contracts by giving up a portion of the employee per diem allowances! There have been more than a couple field assignments lately where the per diem wasn't enough to cover food + lodging. That's right, people took a personal hit in order to travel for work. Don’t worry though, ownership/management got a great bonus for the work getting completed so efficiently. Real nice people we’ve got in management here. There is an overinflated view of the company from within that just doesn't exist outside the bubble. Yeah, we used to do good, interesting work. Those days are over now. Let’s get real, there are no new nuke plants being built in this country. It’s just mods as far as the eye can see. How many times does one need to draw the ISO for a recirc pump replacement? A lot, apparently. And the fossil side of the business is doing no better. Maybe the worst thing about S&L is the changing economic trends. Oil and gas are cheap, nuclear is under attack, and renewables are rising. S&L has nearly zero exposure to the renewable energy sector. They've either made no effort to get that work or, more likely, cannot compete in that market with their current level of overhead. And with the price of fossil fuels so low now, and likely to stay that way for the next 15+ years, the nuclear industry is only going to continue to get worse. Compensation. It is relatively competitive with the market. It has to be, or they’d have an even bigger problem with turnover. People here get comfortable with their salary. But don’t be fooled, it’s not so high that it can’t be matched elsewhere, it’s just high enough to prevent most people from expending the effort to look elsewhere.
