Pros
There are not many. While working at Laing O’Rourke appears to work for some, increasingly I saw an out of touch leadership team which made them look and feel like a throwback from the 1990s. If you’re a white man, you’ll probably have a reasonable experience but sexism was rife, and it ran right up to executive level. Anyone who raised a concern was made to feel like they were the problem. Overall it felt like employees were expected to feel grateful for being hired, and consequently they offer little in terms of incentives beyond the basic package - notably there is no bonus. The office is soulless and poorly equipped, There are continual cuts against the tone-deaf backdrop of the O'Rourke family flying by helicopter from their tax haven in Jersey, or the chauffeur kicking his heels in the canteen, while everyone else struggles with the M25 commute or the 20 minute walk from the nearest station to the business estate next to the QE2 bridge, where the office is situated It makes the mandated 5 days a week in the office a little bit galling and generally gives the impression that staff - however experienced- aren’t to be trusted. It makes it very difficult to trust them as an organisation. Redundancies have been ongoing in the last 12 months - they have a big order book but regularly lose money.
Kontras
Morale is low and there is little sense of team. Corporate governance is patchy, and while there are headline-grabbing benefits, there is nothing that other companies don’t offer. In some functions the culture is particularly toxic. There is a relentless ‘JFDI’ attitude with little visible focus on long-term strategy.