line technician

safety specialist

technicien de ligne

project coordinator

distribution manager

Valard Group of Companies

When I first started at Valard, they had recently transitioned to insourced IT and had recently been picked up by Quanta Services, giving them significant resources and network structure. The IT Manager wanted to create a helpdesk that had a great face to face presence, that didn't have people on hold, and had a great turn around time. Due to needing 6AM - 6PM coverage, we definitely were overstaffed, but as such did not run into crunches during outages, sick days, vacations etc. 

Techs were hired based on their ability to learn and work independently. And I do mean independently. If someone on the desk couldn't figure something out, it wasn't getting done. There was no tier 2, and the help desk manager came from a software development background. This lead to the hiring process picking out very headstrong techs, including myself. 

As the company grew, the service side of the IT department was fairly stagnant. Software development grew to near triple the size of the service desk, and were sheltered from having to deal with clients. Applications were developed with little to no user input, and devs were against talking to clients, including a new ticket tracking system. Even official channels for suggesting improvements were met with a brick wall.

The longer I worked there, the more it was apparent that management was more concerned with appearances than they were with getting things done. Calls for additional support was met with new middle management being introduced, and more reporting which increased workload and decreased efficiency. Requests from experienced techs to work afterhours to get queues down were ignored, until management quietly worked with the new inexperienced techs on weekends, usually causing more work than they did. 

Eventually dissent among the ranks boiled over and management became to take steps to remove those they view as uncontrollable, notably the headstrong techs they hired originally for being able to do their job.

This company used to be a great family oriented company to work for that actually cared about their employees.
Now that the company has enjoyed growth over the years they originally used to manage themselves however they are owned by an American company-Quanta Services and it is now becoming more and more evident in terms of laying off long term employees.

Obviously something has changed and not for the betterment of loyal long term employees.  Now they lay off long term loyal employees and bring in new employees at much lower wages. That tells me its all about the numbers-$ and total disregard to their long term employees.  Employees that have worked for the company 5 years and longer obviously would be paid at a hire rate than bringing someone new in for a much less wage.  
Valard claims to give long term growth opportunities which is false.

They made sure to lay off a huge amount of employees before the Christmas holidays which was towards the end of a project in Newfoundland.  By being terminated that meant they could not be bothered to pay out the usual profit share in December for that said project saving them loads of dollars.  Nice for the company not so nice for the employees that stayed on loyally to project completion.They brag in their news letter about job completion and thank everyone that worked on the project then you get laid off and of course no profit sure.  If that is how they now do business then why give them your hard work and loyalty.

Time sure changes the way a company conducts itself.  I for one used to love working for the company and I expected to work for them into retirement.  Instead the thanks I got lay off notice along with an ROE.  Thanks Valard.

Certain aspects of my job I found to be most enjoyable. I got to travel a lot and see new places. Sometimes you find yourself working alone for days at a time, but for the most part the team stays together. We'll have our social lunches and safety meeting and not to mention our radios. So you're never truly void of human contact.
I love working at heights and look forward to continue doing so.
The experience that I have gained over the years has made me both versatile and descent problem solver. I always maintain and clean all equipment and vehicles I use and I strongly encourage others to do the same.
I learned to exercise better work habits and organization skills.
Through experience I became better at tasking others by clearly conveying, day to day, a safe and set work plan. The opinions others were of great value to me while discussing our daily tailboard meetings.
I have always worked well with others and Look forward to continue learning new methods and the processes behind them.

a typical day at work,well up by 4.30am and and on the road by 6am on the work site by 6;30am ,we are always driven to to learn more about our trade so we can move up the ladder,we have a toolbox meeting daily,our management is good and will reward the crew with dinner if we reached our daily or weekly goal,most of my co workers are good to work with and the more experience co-workers will help and teach you along the way,i learn something new all most every day,Valard will put you threw school so you can grow with the company and the pay is great,they will give you a food and tool allowance and will pay for your flights and hotel room,the hardest part of the job is the down time for me,i love working for Valard but i dont like not working the whole year,the hardest part of the job is the traveling and being away from the family ,but the the most enjoyable part is the continuous learning and the pay,but i am currently setting at home do to lack of projects

Wonderful experience, massive company, top wages, full benefits, helps you find your place with the company,  PAYED for ALL courses and training and apprenticeships pertaining to the job and your career. All hotels, motels, meals, transportation, including fly in, fly out. Camp locations were clean, new, up to date, and well run. Most offered lots of variety and delicious food. You have top Foreman in the field willing to help and train. Crews were manageable, the work was highly physical, and always learning something new every day. "Safety First", FLHA's before any job started daily. Job locations always changing, some locations, (north west coast) most people will never experience such beauty! Will always be thankful for the opportunity and the experience, best employer ever! Have suggested employment with Valard to multiple young people.

It was a fun job for sure. You had to love the outdoors to be a surveyor. Daily activities entaled writing out a morning safetly tailboard then had to review it at noon hour. Had to have the lathe prepared and labled out also have the nail flagged out and put into the right spot in the ground. Had to make sure we had all our materials ready to go each day for any kind of work we may have to do. Also, I had to make sure the truck was cleaned out and organized after every shift. Had to help the Party Chief set up and tear down our GPS base at the start and end of our shift. 
The hardest part of the job would have to be the fact that I was home for only a week out of the month if that. Don't really get to have much of a personal life. 
There would not be one thing I could pick that I could say was the most enjoyable part of the job. Something new and pretty wild happened every day.

*Tipical day at work was working with an out going crew who worked well with on another, I learned how to read our blue prints for the towers being built and asked questions on what I did not understand.
*The management and co-workers I worked with watched out for the safety of one another, worked in the feild projectd for two shifts of 21 days in, then moved to the yard to run loader to laod flat decks which hauled the material out to the designated worksites, Did a daily routine log book for the machinary that was operating.
*The hardest part of the job was being away from home for so long but enjoyed the camp life.
*Learning new experience, meeting new co-workers and friends, and to run the machinary and do my job as safetly and best that I can.

When management changed the work atmosphere went down; it was clear that unless you were "in" with the new management, you were going to go nowwhere. Depending on department, middle management were easy and great to deal with, C-Suite was just an old boys' club unfortunately. There is no process for annual performance reviews, so no structured way of advancement in any way. The department I was in unfortunately included an ineffective middle manager who did not believe in sharing knowledge or workload, thereby sobotaging our efforts in effectively responding to our internal clients. Overall, there was a lot of backstabbing and walking on egg shells, which really undermined all those that really cared about their work.

This company is pretty good to work for, work out of town on a 20/8 schedule with 10 hour days, but travel eats up two of your days off so you really only have 6 days off. They pay quite well with your overtime, and the amount of hours you work. Only down side is if  you’re in a trade you can find yourself doing unrelated work to your trade, or even other trades work. Management is also kinda rough, you can find that sometimes they’re quite organized and crush anything that’s given to them, but most of the times it takes them till last minute to make a decision and anything they try to do on time ends up a disaster. Other than that benefits are pretty good, and the culture is alright, but it tends to decline through out the shifts.

I would work 6:30 - 5:30 everyday. My shift was supposed to be 21 days and 7 off, however those were slim and would work anywhere from 21 - 71 days straight 10hr days. I enjoyed my job and worked with many great people that's what would be my motivation to work the long hours.  I enjoyed coming to work everyday. My day starts by collecting timesheets from the guys before they head out to the field.  Enter time for over 500 employees and whatever else came up to do with payroll and administration.  The hardest part about my job was not having back up so I could take a day off. The most enjoyable part of my job were the people that I worked with and making sure they all got paid:)

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Line technician 7 salaries reported	$52.86 per hour
Safety specialist 16 salaries reported	$40.69 per hour
Technicien de ligne 12 salaries reported	$47.62 per hour
Project coordinator 4 salaries reported	$42.50 per hour
Distribution manager 8 salaries reported	$68.75 per hour

Working at Valard Construction: company overview and reviews

Valard Construction

Valard Construction ratings

Popular jobs at Valard Construction

Salary satisfaction

Job seeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected