journeyperson carpenter

laborer

project engineer

carpenter apprentice

senior superintendent

Mortenson Construction

Great Company with lots of training opportunities and very well managed.

Poor leadership qualities top town leaving my boss unpolished and tolerated while he destroyed relationships, continually created employee upheaval, and generally created an environment of discontent among team members coupled with outrageous demands and application of increasingly tough to administer safety and quality demands.

In short, I thought it was my opportunity to work closer to home and jump back into the institutional construction industry building hospital infrastructure and doing some interesting foundation and structural work, which I did, but after 3 months of employment I knew that I couldn't be like my boss which was the senior position I was shooting for.  I also was asked by my team members to stick it out for their sakes and the betterment of the project.

I received the best benefits and the best pay I ever had and wanted to make a career with Mortenson.  I think they are a good company but the experience I had with my boss on the Providence Hospital job was not great.  In fact it cost me some of my relationships I had prior to working with them.

I did however, manage to pull one month out of the project's CPM schedule with my work and on a 460 million dollar hospital project I am very proud to have done so with my great team of subcontractors.

I also received my full bonus which I greatly appreciated and it helped my family and I survive the following period of unemployment.

Mort has done a wonderful job building this family run company. it is now in the third generation of existence. As in everything else, no matter how well the groundwork has been laid before you, you still need people to fill the multitude of positions in a national, sometimes multi-nationally run company. Strictly speaking Chicago here, Chicago field operations could hold their own against the legendary thieving and corrupt ways of the political machine. Throw the rules of conduct book out the window here. Mortenson could be a fantastic place to work if key individuals could see through the smokescreen being blown in their faces. Upper Upper management is capable of landing some wonderful jobs. Mort has Instilled in his people the importance of safety, although occasionally looking the other way is part of the local culture. The in the trench Tradesmen are hardworking loyal employees. Although few, some climb the ladder via the brown nose method when other more competent people are more deserved. The days can sometimes be long, and you are very well liked as long as you always say "YES." The Tradesmen in Chicago are all union, and it is possible to make a lot of money working for them, albeit the long hours and many times, off hours shifts. I personally have met and know the Mortenson Family, and their hearts are truly in this business as well as their concern for the well being of each and every employee.

Don't get me wrong Mortenson was at times a great company to work for. Safety was taken very seriously compared to other contractors I've worked for in the past and most of the day-to-day work felt very meaningful, you could tell management wanted you to be successful and gave you most of the tools to do so. That is until you get to a job site where the management and people are cutthroat and shady. Then you're SOL. It has become very exclusive and almost sort of a boys club. You're either in or out and it doesn't matter if you're a hard worker or not. Coworkers will act like your friend and then bad mouth you to management behind your back just to guarantee their own job and management will take their word for it without ever consulting you. 2 people have died on their projects this year and while that number might not seem like a lot it has cost them dearly. Now they have hardly any work and can't seem to get a project as a majority GC to save their life. This resulted in sudden mass layoffs of skilled tradesmen, all after telling everyone "Don't worry, we are picking up jobs" just so people wouldn't quit to find another one before Mortenson was done with them. If this kind of behavior continues, I doubt they will be the 6.5 billion dollar business they've been for much longer.

A typical day started at 7:30 am and would usually end by 5 pm.  The work was a 50/50 split of desk work answering phones and emails relating to requisitions placed by the wind farms for tools and equipment, and working in the storage yard to locate, pack and ship the requisitioned items.

Management was often out of communication with the daily tasks at the storage yard, and we had a high turnover rate of supervisors at the yard and corporate office level.

Mortenson focuses on safety first and innovation in the industry second.  A high priority was placed on finding new methods or tools to expedite the process of building a wind farm and maintaining low cost.

The hardest part of the job was the sheer volume of work being performed in the field and managing the necessary equipment needed to perform that work.

The most enjoyable part of the job was the daily interactions with the various staff at the wind farms across the country and the continuous education I received on tools and equipment specific to the industry.

- Only way to advance in company was to know management on a personal level or be related.
- Extreme favoritism - too many people who are related to each other, went to school together or came up through the company together who are making decisions and promoting each other.
- Very few people are successful if they didn't spend their entire career with the company.
- The leadership team expects a whole lot with little or no recognition. They even demoted and fired people based on one managers opinion.
- Many people made the company and their job the center of their world and finally left due to the unfair practices. Some left after 10 or 20 years.
- They preach work/life balance and the "work hard, play hard" atmosphere. This could not be further from the truth. 
- Mortenson also has a terrible reputation among sub-contractors.  
- Office leadership will not protect short-term or long-term employees from horrible supervisors/managers. If it is easier for them to just get rid of the employee, they will.
- Numerous managers in place that may be good at their job but should NEVER manage people.

First off I wasted 2 days just going to the job site. First the 1st day they didn't let me work because of my attire I had on sweats instead of jeans when I explained I could change and be back in 15 mins. I was told to comeback tomorrow when I came back the next day I was handled so rudely by the woman who was suppose to host the orientation I felt uncomfortable, She then said I wasn't hired because of "my background." Second When I call back to human resource to report the incidents the wasn't a live person to pick up the call and voice message couldn't place me with anyone live as well and hung up on me. Then lastly I called the lady who first called me when I was hired, explained to her the situation in totality. She responded to the everything saying because I was perceived a certain way because I had on sweatpants and that was reason for me going thru what I had to endure by those people. When I asked if they had a contact number a Union she hung up the phone. I would NEVER recommend this job to anyone so that don't have to go thru what I had to.

I had little contact at all with my manager who had 45-50 direct reports and thus no professional relationships.  I felt there was excessive group think pushed on both work and non-work (I.e.: political) topics. So much top down micro-management it stifles everything.  I felt I wasn’t valued other than the money I was paid, despite coming with prior experience.  They terminated an employee with no prior warning just a couple weeks after they explained to their manager the affects an extreme sleep difficulty was having, even though that employee had a track record of being able to be productive in other areas of work regardless of the condition.  Their health insurance seemed more of a hinderance than anything else.  They were misleading on bonus eligibility in the recruitment and offer process.

I have worked for this company going on 2 years. Never have I ever called in sick, not shown up for work or take my rotation. However, this time around I needed my rotation to take a class to better me as an employee. The day after my class was over I was laid off. Although the employee that hit a truck with his forklift is still working. I have called all supervisors and contacts for each and every job to see if they needed me and have been told No not at this time. But learning in the process, the guy that got drunk and quit his job, has been hired back and working, the guys that were still working this recent job and not laid off have been transferred to these other jobs. The guys that say they are not going to one job but end up being sent to another job, all the while I have called all of these jobs and have been told nothing going on till May or so. I have now been laid off for 2 months and have been faithful in calling to get back to work and still keep finding this to be the situation

It is who you know unfortunely to make a good salary. I understand the pay my be proprociate with this type of labor on a solar farm. But to have individuals from out of town is an embarrassment on the low per diem and no travel pay for such a large successful company. On this particular project it is surrounded by oil field jobs, thus all the small towns are gouching and raising all prices of motels and goods and fuel. This company is better off hiring local cheap labor. People who leave there families and pay out of pocket to travel and with the low wages and high prices of housing and fuel, it's not cost effective. I understand this company is paying a respective wage for this labor , but when half of you net income goes to motel and high gas prices, I donot see how they can get good expericienced help to stay, thus heighting there risk of inexpercienced help that are more likely to get injured. Mortenson is successful and brilliant but I believe they dropped the ball on this one.

They'll hire anybody , even a crack head. Seriously, the majority of these people do drugs. These people can't even read blueprints. I've been in construction for over 20 years and this is by far the worst management and hiring practices I've ever seen. They hire ANYBODY, they bring all sorts of trash in you'll have to deal with and, if you're a good employee it doesn't matter because unless you're related or brown-nosing one of the bosses, you won't move up or get ahead.   The pay is an extremely low rate. The only thing cool is per diem which is anywhere from $200 - $400 which won't even cover the cost of your hotel in this area.  They'll make random people leads and foremen, as long as your kissing someone's butt (or related to someone), they'll make you one and, this leads to some extremely trashy leadership.

Nothing is based on Merit or being a good employee. 

I've never been so disappointed in my life.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Journeyperson carpenter 4 salaries reported	$40.69 per hour
Laborer 16 salaries reported	$32.33 per hour
Project engineer 125 salaries reported	$101,166 per year
Carpenter apprentice 2 salaries reported	$24.58 per hour
Senior superintendent 130 salaries reported	$167,225 per year

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