FT Services

I had the opportunity to be the lead of the Resource Department on a maintenance contract at one of the major oil companies in Fort McMurray's Oil Sands. This was a wonderful and unexpected venture for me and I learned a lot from the experience. 

A typical day involved providing support and encouragement to my team to meet their deadlines of manpower reporting, creating and maintaining a schedule to ensure all departments we supported were well taken care of year round, auditing reports and mainly ensuring that our client was happy with the service we were providing as a contractor. The most challenging part I experienced in this role was the lack of support I received from management. As a result of this, I truly learned the hard way on most occasions as direction seemed to be hard to find. The most enjoyable part was using forward thinking and streamlining processes.

Prior to my promotion to lead of the Resource Department, I worked in the field providing administrative support to the execution team. They were a very fun and professional group of people to work alongside of, really welcoming me and making me feel part of the team. Mornings were the busiest and most enjoyable part of the day and brought many challenges to meet report deadlines as we worked on a large contract of up to 400 craft. I found the field environment much more relaxing than the Administration office.

FT Services under any name, and there have been several, is a deplorable place to work. As an employee you are the absolute last priority for a company that could organize or manage its way out of a wet paper bag. They have no clout or tact when negotiating contracts with the client and they pass those shortfalls directly onto the employee. Retention bonuses will be stripped, wages will be steadily whittled away, travel pay will be slashed, overtime will be strategically withdrawn, and any complaints will be met with scorn, alienation, and prejudice. Your fellow employees will generally be great but the management and the relationship with the client will always be at best strained and often toxic. As an employee you mean absolutely nothing to this company and it shows in every dealing you will have with them. Expect a very high attrition rate with mind boggling turnover.

This company is relatively new and under bids for contracts. This means there wages are low and they hire from the bottom of the barrel. I have meet a few skilled people here but they don't last long. FT services has the highest contractor turn around on the Kearl site. If you pay attention to job postings FT is always hiring and theres a reason for that. Upper management lacks the professional attitude to work together with it's employees to get the job done. To many green managers with big egos calling all the shots. It's not long before this company is kicked off site. Therefore job security is always an ongoing stressful situation. Also the union CLAC protecting the employees does nothing to help when needed. Stay clear of this company if you want a long term rewarding career.

A typical day was filled with multi-tasking.  Vehicle logistics and all aspects of office duties filled the day.  Learned a lot about leasing vehicles and about Upgrader Maintenance.  
Management overall was good.
As with all companies, there are areas of the workplace culture that could use improvement, while other areas were good
The hardest part of the job, was the workload.  At times, there was not enough time in the day to complete, and it carried over into home life.
The most enjoyable part of the day, was the diversity of the company.

Everyday at FT was different and that's what I really enjoyed about working there. I learned what certifications people needed and how many hours they would have to work to achieve their next certification. I did a lot of data entry which was pretty mundane but I definitely got fast! I learned a lot about benefits and pay raises as well as terminations. When the price of oil went down, they decided to lay off a lot of the office employees and only have employees on site. I will miss working there.

FT services is not a company I would recommend for anything other than a stop gap. They are very top heavy with management that will cut wages and try very hard to shirk their employees. They try to blame the problems on the the customer rather than face the fats that most of the managers have no clue what they are doing. They have the most confusing payroll, I took more money home monthly at a job where I was making 24,000 less annually.

A typical day working for FT begins with safety and ends with safety. Working in a safe work environment is always required but even more important in the oil sands. I can most defiantly say i learned something new each and every day working for FT. The hardest part is taking in all the new information that is presented to me as a first year apprentice, but at the same time this is my favorite part of the job! I strive to learn as much as possible so i can excel faster.

Managers and Supervisors were great when I first started, but that quickly changed as they were hired on by the client and it was all downhill from there. Expected the tradespeople who actually showed some competence and accountability to take a leadership role and more responsibility with absolutely no compensation incentive. Only thing that kept me around was the group of people I worked with daily, still some of the best I’ve encountered. 

This company struggles a bit in keeping employees, due to the fact that  it seems to be more concerned with filling the body counts rather than maintaining the expertise. Not a very happy place to work, there seems to be a constant power struggle between ranks all the way up the chain of command, this attitude and common work culture explains there high turnover.

One of the largest service provider in Oil and Gas Sector. Not Employee Oriented. Work culture is average.Management is average. Co-workers are supportive. The most enjoyable part was the regular interaction betweem maintenance supervision and planning division resulting optimum utilization of resources and proper upkeep of the equipments.

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