field engineer

operations intern

laborer

carpenter

engineer

Hensel Phelps

I'll preface this by saying that I went into this experience with optimism and enthusiasm and worked very hard.  All the negativity you'll read about below comes as a result of my experience rather than an unwillingness to work hard.

It’s a long read, but if you’re considering working here, please do yourself a favor and read this whole review.

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PROS

- Compensation: Good compensation compared to other similar companies, though COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) can have a huge effect on this and base salary is low for Field Engineers at around 65k. If you are put on a project in an area with a high COL, you'll get a high COLA. However, say you get promoted and move somewhere else where the COL is much lower, you can potentially make less than you did before being promoted while shouldering more responsibility. 

- Benefits: 15% of base salary 401k contribution. No matching, but with a $65k base salary for example, HP would be contributing almost 10k each year to your 401k on their behalf before your own contributions. You also don't pay the premiums for Medical/Dental/Vision. Please read below in the 'Cons' section to hear about 401k vesting schedule.

CONS

- Work-Life Balance: The largest issue by far. There is little to no work-life balance, which is an industry standard. Expect to work 50-70 hour weeks, plus frequent Saturdays. Burnout is very prevalent in low and mid-level employees at HP (Field Engineers, Office Engineers, and Project Engineers). If you show an aversion to working such long hours, you will quickly be ostracized by management and coworkers. Many employees commute 2+ hours daily on top of a 10-12+ hour work day, which can be related to project placement (which I’ll talk about below). Early mornings and late nights do not make for a healthy combination.

- Work-Life Separation: You're basically on-call if things go wrong, and there is no expectation for a real separation of your personal time and work time. Emails, calls, and texts that require response are sent outside of "standard" hours (i.e. 6 AM-4 PM). This can also include things like being called by the night crew while you're sleeping, being asked to come back to work after a late afternoon doctor's appointment, etc. Your supervisor can also decide to put you on a night schedule instead of a daytime one for a period of time, if necessary.

- Time off: 10 days PTO (+1 with each year of employment, capped at 20 days), but good luck using it. You will feel guilted by your team  who is already stretched too thin. They also observe only 7 of 11 federal holidays. If you work somewhere where the trades are unionized, you will still be expected to come in on federally recognized holidays while the union trades are off, despite the fact that your entire job revolves around managing those trades.

- Slow to change: Hensel Phelps insists on keeping outdated practices (workflows, processes, softwares, etc.) that can be feasibly changed to fit the current environment. The corporate structure also requires that all project teams across the country use the same tools, so the adoption of new technologies is slow. I was told several times, "We did this when I was a Field Engineer 10 years ago. I suffered through it then, so you have to suffer through it now."

- Software: As an added bonus to the point above, almost all the software you use is proprietary, meaning that it is only used by Hensel Phelps. And a lot of it is slow, unwieldy, and outdated. This can hurt you while looking for jobs elsewhere, since you have little familiarity with many  common softwares.

- Learning/Development: A deliberately vague job description allows for your plate of responsibilities to be constantly changed and increased. Management does not give detailed feedback, and expects you to figure certain things out instead of providing guidance. The environment is very sink-or-swim for new hires, and you will be pushed to your breaking point. This can be good for learning but bad for morale.

- Promotions: Promotion period is incredibly slow. Expect to be a FE (Field Engineer) for 1.5-3 years before becoming an OE (Office Engineer), and another 2-3 years as an OE (so around 5 years total) before becoming a Project Engineer; also note that the FE/OE program is rotating, so the same timeline applies if you start out as an OE rather than a FE. There is little flexibility with promotion as a young employee here, regardless of how good you are at your job.

- 401k vesting schedule: 401k takes 6 years to be 100% vested (versus 3 years average), at which point you will also be eligible for their profit sharing plan if I recall correctly. These are known as the "golden handcuffs." I will never forget being in my first day of onboarding discussing benefits, and I asked  about the vesting schedule since I was curious. I was told, in front of other new hires, "The only reason you're asking that is because you're thinking about leaving this company." This was the first of many red flags in hindsight.

- Project Placement: Frequent project reassignment displays lack of respect for employees' living situations, and your ability to move around the country is often the biggest opportunity for advancement. Many people have to uproot their families. The project reassignment process almost completely lacks transparency for employees, so you'll be stuck in limbo wondering where you're headed next and will not get a straight answer at first. You could have a project that is close to you, but end up on another that is an hour away because that’s what company needs.

- Compensation: Although it is good compensation within the CM/GC industry, when you break down your compensation versus hours worked, you're hardly making more than you would in other industries or hourly positions. Since you are salaried nonexempt, you do not have defined work hours or limits, and Hensel Phelps (along with every other large GC) takes advantage of this. 

- Culture: The culture here as a new hire is like being in a fraternity. If you push back against certain practices, you’ll be made to feel like an outsider. Coworkers also strongly dislike working long hours, but are too apprehensive to bring that up with management for fear of being denied advancement opportunities. Hensel Phelps holds a yearly survey where employees assess what the company does and does not do well, and the same issues I've brought up here are brought up there. The company continues to state that they value the physical and mental health of their employees. They do not. The practices I've listed are widespread and contradictory to their stance on health, and their actions demonstrate an unwillingness to change.

- Understaffing: Projects are understaffed, which results in management squeezing as much work out of the fewest employees possible. This business model helps keep costs low and helps Hensel Phelps win contracts. They are always chasing (and winning) new work, so there is constant shuffling of people.

- COVID-19: My time here was during the height of the pandemic. In my experience and opinion, COVID protocols were aimed more towards getting people back on site as quick as possible than ensuring that they were symptom-free.

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Will Hensel Phelps do anything actionable as a result of 1 review? Probably not. But the more people share their experience, the more HP is inclined to change. I know my experience is shared by others after getting to know coworkers during my time at HP. 

Ultimately, for me, the compensation and benefits were not worth the tradeoffs. Almost everything about my experience was negative, bordering on a toxic work environment. Since leaving this industry, my physical and mental health have drastically improved. If you work here, you will make a lot of money while your health, relationships, and personal life will suffer at the expense of that. Unless you live to work, Hensel Phelps and the construction management industry are not the place for you.

Advice for employees: UNIONIZE. Seriously, a union is badly needed. Demand better treatment. Leave the company if you have to. There are plenty of jobs out there. Life is too short to sell your time to a company like Hensel Phelps, or any other general contractor for that matter.

I had a great time working for HP, I made friends, learned a lot, and made connections in the industry. As a field engineer you work long hours and are responsible for a lot with little to no training. When you first start I felt like no one gave me good advice on what I should be doing day to day, I struggled to stay busy. I spent more time cleaning and taking trash out of the building than I thought I would be doing. I am not afraid to clean but for that to be a major responsibility just didn't seem right when I was trying to learn how be a successful FE. The more time I spent the more I learned about what I should be doing and became overly busy where I would often be working 12 hour days.  I learned how to manage subcontractors, layout various things, perform QC insepctions, log RFIs, and Daily reports. Most enjoyable part was working with the people I worked with, almost everyone was nice and down to earth. Hardest part is being away from family and being looked down upon for wanting to have a life outside of work. Also was told layoffs never happen and they even hired more people during the recession, however layoffs are happening in August 2020 after they hired 20+ people to staff a job they did not win. 

Work is pretty repetitive so if you pay attention to what’s going on then you should know what’s going on the next work day. I learned a lot from skills, techniques, how to use unfamiliar tools, equipment and safety protocols. Management is okay but very obvious to see that they favor salary employees over craft employees. You get what you put in. If you have little to no experience they will build you from the ground up. If you aren’t taking the time to learn anything or retain anything then you might become an outcast or coworkers will refuse to teach you anything. If you’re green but busy goofing off then you probably will not last. Hardest part of the job is taking direction from superiors who doesn’t have the field experience to set proper deadlines or the right way to do things or the most efficient way to do things but they still talk like the work we do is easy. Best part of the job is easily the hours. If you are trying to stack checks the hours are there but if the workmanship and work ethic  isn’t there odds are you probably won’t be making much overtime. Co workers are cool as long as you aren’t trying to be the alpha.

Generally the company is a great construction company to work for. As with any industry there are good eggs and bad eggs. My experience with Hensel Phelps has been mostly positive, with great managers that have your best interest in mind and willing to support and train you as you progress in your career. 

There are also managers that won't give you two seconds of their time because it is beneath them. These types of managers are far and few between at Hensel Phelps, but it definitely sours the mood and destroys the morale on the project. Our Operations Managers and General Superintendents take complaints seriously and work diligently to correct situations before they cause irreparable damage to the team and the company. 

Construction is a tough industry: it can't just be an 8 hour job Monday through Friday. We work long hours, often on nights and weekends because it is what we have to do in order to get the job done, on time, on budget, and with good quality for our clients. Our managers and superintendents do everything they can to minimize the disruption of these off hours by splitting up the off hours responsibilities equally amongst the team.

Building/Construction methods are not matched.
Safety Superior!  Supt.'s were held accountable for injuries and accidents under their watch-the way it should be. STOP safety Training Observation Program excellent.  Caused employees to think or get it together. They had Housekeeping rules strict compared to other Companies. Employees were a part of the training in Toolbox Talks. An excellent Company.

Hardest part of my job was no where to go after 9 plus years in Safety. Top of the scale and no where else to go, Education was offered although time to get to a class(s) just did not work for me as a schedule as I was always there early and last to leave after securing the site. "Safety" personnel were only assigned if Contract called for a Safety person, if not Supt.'s were the final say. Insurance Program could not compare to any other. Well employees and their families were paramount to the Company.

I learned a lot from the Company and The Corporate Safety Director.

This company has some of the most talented individuals working at it, unfortunately it is plagued by an old school mentality that to be seen as a good employee you need to show up at 6am, work until 6pm, and make no mistakes.  If you do anything but this, do not plan on a promotion.  The people you work with are great, the working environment and mentality as a whole is great, but the ability to progress through the ranks is extremely difficult, and you will be expected to do the job of the person above you, without being paid for it for potentially years on end.  There is also a bad mentality of "stringing" people along, promising a better pay and promotion, month after month.  All these things aside, if you don't mind long hours, and lack of career advancement, the people are some of the best to work with out of every company, and the work itself is not hard as long as you are always on top of what you're doing.  My typical work day is pretty easy going, with a few fires to put out here and there.  You will be expected to work 4-8 saturdays a year without additional pay or a day off to make up for it.  Typical work week is minimum 50 hours.

In the end, it appears there are a lot of lies and manipulation in management. They have a Project Manager who is extremely shady and fires people when he doesn't like them for no actual business reason, but somehow finds an excuse that the company accepts as a valid reason. Superintendents and Project Engineers seem to be manipulated to do as he pleases as well. Admin detested him but were forced to run his personal errands and be at his beckon call, and the craft guys were treated like dirt. I believe Hensel Phelps has potential to be a great company. It's a shame when one individual with too much power finds ways to run the company to suit his own personal needs and not the best interests of the company. It's really very sad. I fear this particular project will end up failing miserably. It's a shame that the district office and main office fail to realize the extent of this person's actions, or choose to ignore them simply b/c he makes the company "x" amount of money.

The first job I was on for hensel Phelps as a carpenter was great. The superintendents cared because they actually came from the craft. Every job I went to after that was terrible. Pay rates were poor for non scale jobs. They did not care about you getting your hours if the weather or job site was slow even when the jobs on average are 80 million plus. They talk to you like your idiots even though half the engineers and superintendents don't know what they are doing. When I worked on one job site where the project superintendent who was so proud of coming from the craft he screamed in my face one day for having my hands in my jacket pockets because it was cold out and all I was doing at the time was helping a truck back in. For a company that boasts how they self perform work besides safety and good health insurance they do not care at all. If it's a busy job they expect you to work all the time or you get blackballed. If it's a slow job your on your own.

Typical days consisted in exercising my triple duties of Commissioning Team Leader, MEP Coordinator and LEED Point of Contact. Very exciting! I learned how to manage multiple groups (owner representatives, sub-contractors and co-workers) to make things happen. The Commissioning effort was a success. Considering that LEED certification was not called for in the original design and that the owner (Pentagon) wanted a LEED certification after the project had started, it was a great success to achieve Bronze certification with the able help and collaboration of all team members involved. Hensel Phelps management was great! Great productive environment. Co-workers were very professional. No hardest part on this job except the events on September 11, 2001 on the same campus. The most enjoyable part was turning over a project on time and within budget and with all commissioned equipment and systems to the satisfaction of our client.

On a daily basis I maintain a Master Access Facility List (AFL) spreadsheet on employees approved for badging that involves 
receiving, reviewing and processing sensitive and confidential documents that are submitted to the Government.
I receive, review and submit Statement of Affiliations (SOA) on companies/vendors that need to participate on the construction project. I attend on a weekly basis safety and security meetings.
As a team player I also am the front desk receptionist back-up. 
I have learned to be very patient.
I enjoy working with management because we all work together as a team.
The co-workers I work with are very upbeat and fun to be with-if not I'd try to cheer everybody up.
Hardest part of the job is telling a potential employee they have been denied access to the project.
The most enjoyable part of the job is when we have BBQ events and we can all mingle and enjoy each others company.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Field engineer 97 salaries reported	$84,238 per year
Operations intern 59 salaries reported	$23.97 per hour
Laborer 58 salaries reported	$31.31 per hour
Carpenter 42 salaries reported	$35.21 per hour
Engineer 17 salaries reported	$86,241 per year

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