Pros
-BENEFITS - Health ins is good and premium is reasonable. Good 401k. Company paid life insurance with option to buy more at a VERY low rate. Dental, Vision, FSA, LTD. -OVERTIME: there is always overtime - at a minimum 15hrs/wk. As a commuter you automatically get paid for 9hrs every day - whether you are sitting in the hotel or out on a job. I've been told there is usually 30-50hrs/wk of overtime, but I haven't seen this yet (3 months into the job). -PER DIEM - As a commuter you get $32/day paid in your paycheck. If you don't commute you get a daily rate based on if you work 8 or more hours. -VACATION: Start out with 2wks per year - available immediately
Cons
-HR is a joke-disorganized and totally disconnected from the heart of the company: the field crew -COMMUTING: I mentioned I'm a "commuter." I'm assigned to Zanesville Ohio, and was told I MUST live withing 1hr of Zanesville, but facility is not completed so they have me commuting to Homer City, PA (3hrs away). They DO NOT reimburse you for mileage and do not provide you transportation. You are responsible to get there on your own dime, which for me is to the tune of: $70 round trip = about $300/mo in gas - not accounting for all the wear and tear I put on my vehicle driving 800 miles/month. -TRAINING: I'm waiting for it to live up to it's reputation. I've been on the job 3 months and haven't learned much more than when I started. I'm a "commuter" - driving 3 hrs every shift only to sit in a hotel most of the time. When I do get called out nobody on the crew wants to explain anything or answer questions. I've read rave reviews about the training, but so far that only appears to be good on "paper" - where you just do competencies on a computer all day - no real hands-on training. -MANAGEMENT: The don't know if they are coming or going and have no clue how to communicate. Most management is there by default-they've been with the company so long that they eventually become managers. This seems to be a "cultural standard" in all of the energy service companies (Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Weatherford, etc.). I don't know how these companies stay afloat with such disorganized middle management. -WORK/LIFE Balance is crap: but that is to be expected in this line of work.