Pros
After years searching for an identity, Arcadis seems to have finally found itself by focusing on the things it does well: resilience, smart mobility, energy transition, digitalization. As an employee this means Arcadis can be a high energy, exciting place where you have opportunities to work on some high-profile projects with critical social benefit. It means potentially having the opportunity to work with other really sharp and talented individuals that have been attracted to working at Arcadis by their involvement in these "glossy" projects, such as increasing flood protection in lower Manhattan. If you are energetic, motivated, and confident by working on these projects you can set yourself up for a successful future by gaining critical exposure, building your reputation, and establishing solid relationships with key client decision makers.
Cons
Arcadis, more than anything else, strives to achieve mediocrity. This drives everything it does, beginning with the offer you received to join the company. While exceptions do occur, almost universally, Arcadis follows a standard pattern - they intentionally lowball, aiming to offer the lowest salary you will consider. If you push back, they will offer to make up the difference in a signing bonus. Many accept believing that they will get to their amount requested during annual salary adjustments, however at Arcadis most new employees are passed over for adjustments during their first year of employment. Once you've started work you will likely find that your position at Arcadis comes with an excessively high billability (utilization) goal, along with a daily fare of bland, mundane work that is uninspiring, colleagues that are friendly but probably went to the local commuter college to get their degree, and an inept supervisor. Your opportunity to work on exciting, high-profile projects will completely depend on which office you are in and what business unit you are assigned to. Being in the right office and right business unit might mean discovering, however, that these glossy projects aren't so much the product of sharp minds at Arcadis, but instead originate with staff at one of their subconsultants that they keep buried down and out of the spotlight. You may also find out that at Arcadis project profitability is the only metric that matters in project management. Monthly project review meetings are held, which from the outside sounds impressive, but in reality, these are run by accountants who focus solely on financial performance and push Project Managers to deliver work as cheaply as possible, often by cutting corners or using less experienced staff. Deliverable quality and client satisfaction are never addressed. At Arcadis, the best projects are those that deliver the most mediocre of possible outcomes, as cheaply as possible, at the lowest minimum standard that a client will accept. Arcadis is a Dutch company, which is heavily reflected in its corporate culture. The company is highly structured and heavily focused on metrics. If it cannot be measured then, at Arcadis, it is not relevant. The culture is not one that supports creative, entrepreneurial individuals or innovative thinking. Rather, the company culture is highly risk averse which favors collective thinking, discourages novel ideas, and instead promotes those known to have highly certain outcomes, based on established and tested approaches. Billability goals are based on a 2080 hour year, however this does NOT include any time for: health and safety training, compliance, or audits; professional development (i.e. completion of required continuing education classes, attendance at symposia or conferences, obtaining professional certification), completing required corporate training (ethics, harassment, project management, etc.), completing annual performance self-assessments, preparing annual career plans, or participating in annual performance review meetings with your supervisor. As none of these are billable activities, for the vast majority they do not count as paid overtime. This means that the company expects employees to do all of these things on their own time. Finally, achieving the mediocre with the minimal amount of effort possible as cheaply as possible is the philosophy at the very core of Arcadis' culture. It permeates everything at the company. As such, if you excel in what you do, if you dare to push the bar higher, you will get attention - but not in a good way. Instead, you will be seen as a threat. Your colleagues will quietly work behind your back to discredit you. Your superiors will disregard or question your input, pass you over for opportunities, and potentially even demote you. The most mediocre of your colleagues, the ones who never really do anything exceptional, never push themselves to excel, never demonstrate any passion or drive - they are the ones that will be promoted around you. At Arcadis, in everything, including staff, mediocrity will always be rewarded. The longer you work at Arcadis the more you will discover this truth. The company is so heavily structured that staff interactions are broadly limited to the level immediately above them. The CEO, Business Unit Presidents, Regional Directors rarely engage with junior staff. Managers go out of their way to minimize in person contact with lower grade staff. Area Managers, who could easily hold meetings in person for staff at various offices under them, rely heavily on videoconferences and provide little time for feedback. Regional Directors, Division Presidents, and the US CEO communicate through "Townhall" meetings - planned, scripted conference calls that end with questions from staff that were staged in advance. Sadly, at Arcadis the management team at all levels is mediocre, unimpressive, and uninspiring.
