American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
3.8 out of 5 stars.
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American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Employee Reviews

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3.9Work-Life Balance
3.8Pay & Benefits
3.4Job Security & Advancement
3.3Management
3.5Culture

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Going places

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Great place. Great culture. A little disorganized but you can actually do something about it. Management takes your opinion into consideration. Depending on who you work for…you can comfortably retire from here.

Pros

Great People

Cons

High turnover in tech
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Fun Workplace

The staff are great and department head has been nothing but helpful. You can have a future in this company, you can start from bottom all away to up. They will help you to achieve that.
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Great overall experience

I worked at ABS as a technical support specialist in IT !I loved working in this company for many reasons as well!Great work environment!Great monetary compensation for my workGreat flexibility of working hoursI have always been very well recognized for my work in this company
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Bad management and no support

No career development even when promised, spoken to with zero manners, you won't fit in if you're a woman who wants a career. A lot of micro-management.

Pros

None

Cons

The lack of respect for staff, no career path, unhealthy atmosphere
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Good Benefits/Bad Culture

Money and benefits can only make you so happy. Unfortunately the culture created at the top is one of fear, bullying and reprisal. This breeds mediocrity throughout all levels as employees are more concerned about maintaining the status quo and preserving their jobs than they are making positive change. I will say that there are some great, smart people working at ABS.

Pros

Good salary, benefits

Cons

Culture, growth opportunities
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Friendly work environment, but slow career progression.

ABS has a great mission and it’s company does a lot of great work. Very diverse job environment and plenty of room to grow but takes a little longer to grow professionally and financially.
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2 stars

What is the best part of working at the company?The variety of work. Surveying different ships and offshore installations. You see everything from old to new equipment. You get to stay up-to-date on the industry. What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Poor leadership. The company is terrible when is comes to supporting it's personnel and providing direction. You will also be expected to work all the time, the company does not respect your off time. What is the work environment and culture like at the company?toxic, very toxic. What is a typical day like for you at the company?it's variable. you can go from jumping ballast tanks all day to doing a loadline inspection. You will be doing long hours and expected to do your reports and training in your off time.
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Bureaucratic and culture of mediocrity

Disclaimer: my experience is from 8 years ago, but I really doubt if anything has changed.ABS was the worst place I have worked in. First positives- The technology department had great projects which were technically challenging, and had some really smart people.The negatives - the management consists of absolutely s***ty, mediocre, micro managing , petty minded bureaucrats. This is the rotten culture in ABS. Avoid unless you are desperate for a job or you are yourself a mediocre person.
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Old boy network. Promotions based on how well liked, not job performance

Safety company with poorly trained employees. Training seems to consist of “read the manual and figure it out”. Management emphasis on financials, not quality of work or customer satisfaction.

Pros

Will hire anyone

Cons

Will hire anyone
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ABS is not a good company for engineers with good skills

ABS is a classification society which focuses on rules and guide creation. Most of the jobs do not need engineering design. For senior engineers with years’ experience, ABS will not provide opportunities for further career development. How long people work with the company and who you know are more important than what you can do. Making boss happy is more important for career development when people have no opportunity to show their skills and abilities through engineering project. Some middle managers micro manage the employees and there is no much life and work balance. All the work need to be approved by several levels, and the engineers have no control about the project, when to start or when to finish. The salary is low compared with other companies also.
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good

ABS is committed to attracting, energizing, developing and retaining a highly talented, diverse workforce that is capable of delivering strong business results.
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A great place to work.

Super interesting to work. A new challenge every day. Workers looked after well. Meet new people every day. Travel opportunity. Position brings respect and honor.
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Productive and interesting work place

On edge at times, but work is good. The culture is higher standards than average. Requesting time off is easy as long as you can still get your job done on time.
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Good company to work for

Great company to work for. Employees take integrity and quality seriously not only in the work for the client but in the way they treat one another. Stable organization that has been around for over 150 years.
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I did enjoy it

The job is heavily loaded on the paperwork side. If your paperwork isn’t completed in a particular time frame then you get in trouble regardless of when you actually completed the job for the day.The mission of the company is good.Limited room for advancement unless you will transfer to another office.

Pros

Benefits, pension, company provided leased car

Cons

Long hours, limited advancement, excessive paperwork
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High level in classified industry

work/life balance is good, insurance not so good ,pension vested after service, everyone I worked with is great, whenever I needed help someone was available. raises were poor. average has been 2%company values years working there rather than hard work.

Pros

flexible working hours

Cons

lay back in work, no room to improve technical skill
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Good work place culture

Working since 6 months with company and enjoying work with seniors, no work stress helpful staff, interview is hard , great to work with company at onshore and offshore, salary and allowance paid within time.

Pros

TADA provided

Cons

8hrs a day 6 days week
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Good Pay, Great Insurance

The only real positives are in my heading. The pay isn't extraordinary but it is market competitive. The health insurance is priced well and has really great coverage. This is a VERY old company and there is virtually zero growth which translates down to the employee opportunities. Expect to be in the same position for a long time unless you're lucky. Annual bonuses are almost non-existent and have just changed over to performance-based rather than company-wide. In other words, you'll have to work extremely hard just to get 2%. Also, if you work in the main NFP side of the business, there is no 401k match due to the pension that you become fully vested in at your 5-yr anniversary.

Pros

Pay and benefits

Cons

Culture, opportunity
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Great place to work. Sad to leave.

Excellent people to work with. I was very fortunate to see the world while working there. Good leadership education program to help your career grow.

Pros

Excellent teammates.

Cons

none.
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Excellent company with excellent Engineers and Managers.

I found working with ABS very stimulating. The office was located in central London/ City, and this was very convenient for me to commute to office. Any software I needed was instantly downloable from the ABS database as ABS had the license to all the software I needed; very extensive licenses.

Pros

Excellent Engineers and Managers, and software and codes.

Cons

None.
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Good reputation

A lit bit stress and competitive but with flexible regular work time and formal work culture.Very good reputation with Maritime industry and paid well.

Pros

Flexible working hours

Cons

Stress with high accuracy requirement
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Overall rating

Based on 195 reviews

Ratings by category

3.9 out of 5 stars for Work/Life Balance
3.8 out of 5 stars for Compensation/Benefits
3.4 out of 5 stars for Job Security/Advancement
3.3 out of 5 stars for Management
3.5 out of 5 stars for Culture

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