equipment operator

truck driver

diesel mechanic

maintenance person

laborer

Vulcan Materials Company

My job was a plant and put driver. Good company, but very poor management. They like to leave you home when little work is available. I’ve had many days off unpaid due to plant and equipment breakdowns than I’ve taken in my 10 years of work history. The plant I work at has poor communication and very negative bias to union workers. Other plants I went to to help out and cover for when someone took time off was really great to their employees. Great communication, very friendly, and as long as you did your job they didn’t bat an eye at you. The plant I work for is very poor in communication. You have to go looking for foreman’s and management to find out what they want you to do. When you ask something they give you the runaround and very poor in making sure you are tasked trained to your specific type of equipment. When someone calls off and they need someone to run the equipment they scramble and give you a quick run down on how to operate the equipment and hope you don’t hit nothing rather than taking the time to properly train you. You ask or criticize on how they are managing they retaliate and try to find ways to get back at you as a how dare you tell me how to run my plant. They play favoritism on their employees and give overtime to the people they like and when you ask for extra hours they say they can’t afford it while their favorite employees are getting 70 hours a week.
The turn over is really high at this plant, but like I said earlier the it’s not the company that is bad. Some plants are great and treat all their employees as a valuable asset compared to this plant. This plant will only be nice if they need favors. You can go above and beyond for them and they don’t respect you and act like you do nothing for them. Again it’s all depending on management. Most plants have great management but this plant is very poor in management and it’s not just me thinking that. It’s %90 of the workforce here. The other %10 are the employees they favor and they see nothing wrong because they get what they want. 

My job title was area Electrician but electrical work was the one thing I did the least of. They didn’t want an electrician. What they wanted was a grunt to do all the same task as their entry level general support hands (greasing the plant, Manning high pressure water hoses to wash the plant down after shifts, general maintenance and repairs). Being a skilled professional meant nothing to them. The way thru saw it is the more you make the more hard physical labor you should have to do, regardless whether or not the task they want you to do has anything to do with electrical work or not. There were plenty of electrical projects that needed to be done but they were not interested in letting me do them. To them I was just another back and set of hands for the “lead men” to boss around so they wouldn’t have to do anything.  If they would have simply allowed me to do the job I was hired to do I would have been perfectly happy working there but like I said electrical work that needed to be done seemed to be the last thing that interested them. That’s to be expected though when you have unskilled and uneducated people put into leadership roles just because they are buddies with the plant manager. If you are a good or even decent electrician, consider this your warning...run far, FAR away from this company unless you are trying to go to work for one of their large operations. At the larger plants, specialized employees actuallystick to their job scope and are not askedor forced to do things outside of their job description or pay grade. Other than the large operation exception, no electrician worth his/her salt would ever even consider working for this company any longer than the time required to find a better job. You’ve been warned. Good luck!

Title: A Promising Career Opportunity as a Heavy Equipment Operator

Introduction:
The role of a heavy equipment operator is an essential one, as these skilled professionals handle powerful machinery to facilitate construction, infrastructure development, or mining operations. When considering a career as a heavy equipment operator, it is vital to find a company that offers a supportive work environment, competitive benefits, and opportunities for professional growth. In this review, we explore the key aspects that make a company job for heavy equipment operators appealing.

Company Overview: 
Vulcan is renowned for its strong presence in the heavy equipment industry and its commitment to fostering a positive workplace culture. Their reputation is built on providing outstanding services and valuing the safety, well-being, and skills of their employees. With a solid track record of success, Vulcan  offers an environment that encourages personal growth and the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art equipment.

Supportive Work Environment:
One of the defining aspects of Vulcan is its dedication to maintaining a supportive work environment for their employees. They appreciate the hard work of their heavy equipment operators and ensure they have access to necessary resources, tools, and training to excel in their roles. This commitment extends to fostering a culture of respect, teamwork, and open communication, which creates a positive atmosphere that contributes to job satisfaction and employee well-being.

Competitive Compensation and Benefits:
Vulcan recognizes the value and expertise that heavy equipment operators bring to the team. As a result, they offer competitive

I started at the bottom at Fixed Maintenance I and within 3 months had moved up to Fixed Maintenance II and there were steady pay bumps at the beginning while management evaluates your abilities, attitude and aptitude. Who is in leadership heavily depends on job tasks and expectations. I have had good leadership that provided all the necessary consumables and parts needed for repairs. At the same time, I have also had poor leadership that failed to maintain inventory, provided little to no guidance on expectations or had unrealistic expectations, and showed incompetence. With good leadership, it is a great company to work for, but on the other hand with poor leadership you can feel the morale drop and the stress of everyone around drastically rise. As a Supervisor myself, there were similarities. When there are constant unrealistic expectations and limiting of abilities when it comes to ordering for consumables, parts, and tools for employees things become stressful. My personal review is that its a good company to gain experience and build helpful habits but don't put a lot of stock in management/leadership to have your back. C.Y.A. if you know what I mean. Always document the tasks you accomplish with picture proof and maintain an on-going list of the things you complete with dates because, more often than not, you will get tested or accused of not completing tasks that you did complete.

Your first assumption of the site is that it looks like an okay operation. You see the machines at work, you see the mountains of material, and you see the activity within the yard. But what you don’t see til you get hired on is the truth about the place. When I first hired on, I was told “we do not want operators who just want to operate and nothing else, you will have to be on the ground sometimes too.” Okay, fair enough. But what they don’t tell you is that “we don’t want new operators who just want to operate and nothing else” and contradict themselves by putting you on the ground for every little thing. If your loader breaks down, on the ground. If someone else’s loader breaks down, they’re on your machine and you’re on the ground. Management is a mess, but the supervisor is a good person as a person. The front desk woman is a phenomenal person and very helpful with what you need, do not let me make you think they are not good people. But the work life will make you want to pull your hair out and stress over it. When I first signed on, there had to have been a catch. The pay is decent, the benefits are on day 1, and the 2 floating holidays seem like incentives to make you stay and suffer. When it’s too good to be true, it usually is. Maybe in a few years you can try this place, but I would strongly reconsider working here if you’re looking for work. If you come here to be an operator, you’re a full time laborer, part time operator. So you’re pretty much a laborator. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Well it wasn't a really good experience working in Vulcan that was want you to break the rules and then when something happens it's always your fault they like to really pass the buck all the time and let's stay certain people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth One of my black co-workers put in this two weeks and next thing I know they let me go for a cell phone violation but you call me to tell me where the next stop is so how can I not answer my phone

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part about working in Vulcan is nobody ever fix anything you have two or three tankers down and then it get mad when you have to sit there with the load and offloaded and they only allowed a mechanics a certain amount of hours

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment it's not very friendly when it comes to the human body they have all these caution signs about working around cement causes your hair to fall out causes you to have breathing problems no respirators or anything and you just supposed to take it

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day at Vulcan you get up super early and if anything is wrong with your truck you have to wait till 8 or 9:00 even though you been there at 4:00 in the morning you have to wait till 9:00 when the mechanic come in because they only allowed to work 8 hours a day I guess and they have very poor communication skills

A typical day started at 5:00 a.m. and could easily run until 5:00 p.m. or as late as 11:00 p.m., only to be back again at 5:00 a.m. the next day. Long hours weren’t occasional; they were routine. Work-life balance was basically nonexistent, and fatigue was just part of the job.

What I learned was how to push through exhaustion and operate in a high-demand environment. I became more resilient, more efficient with my time, and better at handling pressure. I also learned how important strong leadership and communication are, mostly because of how noticeable their absence was.

Management was disorganized and divided. There was constant infighting, poor communication between leaders, and decisions were frequently undermined or reversed. There didn’t seem to be a clear vision or unified direction. Employees were often left to figure things out on their own while leadership focused on internal conflict.

The workplace culture was toxic. Morale was low, advancement opportunities were unclear or nonexistent, and raises were rare. Hard work didn’t necessarily translate into growth. It felt stagnant, and many employees seemed burned out or frustrated.

The hardest part of the job was the combination of extreme hours and dysfunctional leadership. It’s one thing to work long days; it’s another to do it in an environment that feels unstable.

The most enjoyable part was the crew you worked beside. The people in the field made the job tolerable.

Pay & benefits
Bonuses are minimal and are usually given across the board instead of based on individual merit. An employee doing the bare minimum gets the same percent raise as an employee going above and beyond.

Job security and advancement
Career growth is something Vulcan states that it helps employees with, however, it comes down to the individual department supervisors and managers. In Payment Services there are no growth opportunities and the no opportunities to learn new skills.

Management
The manager of Payment Services is very difficult to work with and has very few people skills. Shows favoritism and is outright rude in open discussion forums if someone disagrees or questions their stance. Sarcastic and condescending towards the employees.

Culture
Vulcan touts a "people first" ideology, but rarely acts on that ideology. Vulcan is very much like any other large corporate entity - the executives have no idea who any of the people low on the totem pole are, the HR department is more concerned with enforcement of rules than they are with developing human resources, and the mental health insurance is lousy.

Overall
The Payment Services department is where careers go to die. The manager is verbally abusive and allows coworkers to bully other coworkers without fear of being reprimanded. The HR department offers no help in these type conflicts except to encourage employees to "work it out" with the manager.

Vulcan is a great company that offers a great environment and benefits.  

A typical work day was the professional yet laid-back environment with the ability to interacting with co-worker friends. This made work enjoyable and easy to manage. Management gave the responsibilities and trusted the employees to get the work done.  Which created a good workplace culture.  I learned a lot.  I learned the software Oracle ERP across several departments i.e. Accounting, AR, AP, Fixed Assets, and Billing.  I also worked with Peoplesoft and Imagenow.  In addition to, managing a software database (Peoplesoft-Vesso). The company also offered annually an internal mentoring program, community relations opportunities and a network organization for women.  The hardest part of the job was sometimes having to stay extra late during accounting closing and working some holidays due to the accounting schedule.  The most enjoyable part of the job for me was being able to resolve issues regarding my work, helping and directing people to policy and procedures to help with their jobs and the relationships built in the extended departments across the organization as well as in different divisions.  Vulcan has the unique ability to choose good employees, which makes a huge difference in today's culture.

Hire managers who actually cares about their team and employees who report to them. Do not hand out management positions without prior managerial experience. Give training to manager without experience. Put them through Leadership training before they scared away company's experienced and loyal employees. Certification does not mean anything if you are not actually know what you are doing. Passing a test and obtaining a certification, should not weight, how smart and great leader the person is. Have 360 evaluation for your employees, across the company and take that feed back to heart and get reed of people who destroy the reputation of Vulcan Materials Company Inc.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Equipment operator 6 salaries reported	$24.11 per hour
Truck driver 38 salaries reported	$28.35 per hour
Diesel mechanic 22 salaries reported	$33.71 per hour
Maintenance person 35 salaries reported	$27.32 per hour
Laborer 14 salaries reported	$17.29 per hour

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