Mikisew Group of Companies

I really enjoyed doing the actual duties as outline by the job description, the 10/10 schedule was superb, the pay was excellent and the employees on the tools were a great bunch of folks. 
However, the office culture was toxic and stressful enough that I had to leave after developing health issues due to it. 
The Company is owned and operated by a native band. The C.E.O. who was also the chief of the band council was a visionary leader who had great business acumen who was failed by some of the policies set up to ensure the band members got hired rather than qualified people.
From the General Manager down to the Washbay Supervisor, the members of the band held positions where they had little to zero qualifications, and lacked the skills necessary to ensure the execution of the companies vision, and corporate plans.
The non-family members were the backbone of the company running the business using skills and hard work. Unfortunately, they were not supported by the leadership team.
The office was full of back stabbing and in fighting, and the relationship with the site ownership was non-existent, with no accountability for those who use their band membership to perform at subpar level.
The management team had a top-down style of leadership where high turnover at critical roles left the core employees with no voice on running the company.
The Service Manager position was a rotating carousel, with each new hire coming in with trendy but ineffectual operational mantra. Some of this ideas worked at multi-billion dollar corporations but were a bad fit for a small, family owned sub contractor in the oil sands.
The employees had low morale due to the ongoing turmoil and this affected their productivity. The site team had no clear command and communication structure, and this resulted in poor execution of organizational plans and objective.
In a nut shell, MFM was a great organization with lots of potential but it seriously lacked a demonstratable will to execute accordingly.
I will surely miss it though and wish I had a second opportunity to help it succeed in its mission.

A typical day working for the company was listening to co-workers complain about the lack of management, horrible work conditions, and how the company was circling the drain. 

I learned that, in spite of itself, some companies will always exist when they have a niche business; in this case representing a 'First Nations' business alternative.

The management was non-existent. Most of the directors worked in a separate building from all the other staff. The direct manager I had closed her door all day and rarely checked on her staff or took the opportunity to share her knowledge with anyone. The Director of Finance took year end off, leaving inexperienced subordinates to carry the load and deal with auditors. 

The lower level staff were okay. They were in a position where there weren't options for voicing opinions or sharing lessons learned. Many of the staff were lazy, complaining when minor changes where made to their work days because they 'didn't have time' to do the work. All told, some people made the entire environment extraordinarily toxic.

The hardest part of the job was actually knowing what I was meant to be doing. My manager provided me with no direction, my staff wouldn't talk to each other, and there was no sense of team at all.

The most enjoyable part was leaving at the end of the day.

I worked for this company for a year and a half and they are not good The superintendents think they are smarter then they are.  They tell you there's room for advancement and they keep hanging that over your head, but there really is no where for you to move up.  The superintendents are inexperienced and so they don't know how to run the general foreman's.  The general foreman's are equally inexperienced and so the place is not run well.  The superintendents think that they are the most important people in the world.  The wages are awful. Once you get to the top labourer wages which isn't even that high you can't get any higher.  I didn't get a raise the whole time i was there cause i was already at the top but i again reiterate isn't that high.  The superintendents chose there friends to fill general foreman and foreman roles, which included even bringing them over from another company instead of advancing people from within the company.  DO NOT WORK FOR THIS COMPANY!!!!!

I did a year in this hole. The whole place was a nightmare. Wages were on the low side and no one else was hiring. Good crew of mechanics to work with for the most part. All the supervisors talk you down behind your back. All our techs had more knowledge then the leads. Low wages ran off all the good employees. Now they just hire what they can get. Horrible management on all levels. Band is heavily in debt. Cut our wages 20% to try and recoup their loses. They should be booted off site due to safety violations and incidents.
Just like any other indigenous run comany. They paid the native labourers more than the white technicians. Wapasu was a bad camp with bad food. It was agony having to do 10 days in this place. At least we didn't work hard. You can't get fired from this place unless you try real hard.

Was a Fun place to work, some co-workers were great, others would relay info to HR, or their relatives in Management if they were given menial tasks, or reprimanded for absences. Was not told it was a seasonal position before starting, was about to go in for 1 week before taking time off so I can be there for the birth of my son. When I got to the airport, was told I was not on the manifest. Called work and my manager at the time said "sorry you had to go to the airport." spent $120 on a cab to and from the airport. HR and my "Union" were of no help as well. But the "Rats" got to keep their jobs before quitting a few months later.

Sorry, seems like a rant. But if you have a good crew, it is a fun place to work.

If you are willing to work, you are praised and noticed.  Hiring is all equal opportunity, if you are willing to take training on pre-hire courses required, they will give you a chance to prove yourself.

There are employees ( as there are everywhere) who don't put forth much effort.  

I enjoyed my time there and was given an opportunity.... when I needed them, they were there for me and supported my further training.  I can't thank them enough for this.

There is a real concern for safety and I would work for them again.

What is the best part of working at the company?
My co workers were amazing. The superiors were very nice.  Managers were very approachable.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
My Forman, he was always bird doging me. Always on my back. Always changing up what was priority, at some times he would even yell at me. He would gaslight me. But I changed shift from days to nights and it was a pleasure to go to work 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment where I worked at the MEM truck shop was awesome. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day was good. Where I was it was very hard work but I grew to love it there

Awful upper management, constant lies, terrible hiring practices and zero accountability of upper management and HSE, The company does not pay for any training and expects the employees to pay out of pocket for all of the courses that are required even the higher end courses like loader training and upgrading your licences to higher classes, they do not pay bereavement even if  a funeral is out of country, employees must jump through hoops and even sometimes are forced to pay for flights from site when there is a family emergency 

I give this company a 3 in all aspects there is room for improvement like any other company I have worked for however if you do what is expected of you then there is no issue. I see some negative comments here which means maybe we hired the wrong people for the job. Give the place a chance before you pass judgement a great bunch of people to work with.

The management is horrible. You get given jobs that are set up to fail and then get talked down to when the jobs fail. Company is an absolute disaster it's a miracle they still somehow have the contract for the sites they are on. I wouldn't recommend working for mikisew to my worst enemies 

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