CEC Cincinnati’s Employee-First Culture

Opening in 1992 as CEC’s first branch office, CEC Cincinnati boasts a long history of putting its employees first. There’s no difference for an employee that has been there a few days, a few months, or several years; the culture and the opportunity for collaboration are the same for all.

Tyler Amicon, Project Manager I in our Civil Engineering practice, and Eric Gerard, Staff Consultant in our Water Resources practice, have both worked full-time with the office since April. Tyler describes the culture as “work hard, play hard” with a “focus on fostering young talent.” He says, “Our office is extremely busy so everyone is working diligently to keep clients happy, but we do find time to take a break and play some games. I have definitely noticed the drive in the office to try and expand the knowledge of our younger team members to ensure they can excel in their careers.”

Eric started with the office as an intern in 2020, and he also had great things to say about CEC Cincinnati’s culture, “The culture of the Cincinnati office is very inclusive and positive. We have very open communication, and each member is very supportive of one another. In my two years with CEC, I have worked with almost everyone in the civil engineering and water resources groups. Those with more experience are very open to helping others. The younger engineers have good cohesiveness, and the social committee has been doing a great job at getting the office together.” 

The Cincinnati social committee kicked off a T-shirt design contest earlier this year. Team members were encouraged to submit a design with a theme centered around the office’s 30th anniversary. Eric decided to submit a design for the contest. For his design, he combined Cincinnati’s skyline with CEC’s 30th-anniversary graphic. He knew he wanted something that made him and his coworkers stand out in the field, so he combined his design with a high visibility safety orange and black lettering to mimic the colors of the Cincinnati Bengals. Even though Eric describes his design as “overly simple,” he was happily surprised when his design won a majority of the votes in the office and won the contest.

Tyler and Eric also noted how many opportunities there are to get involved in projects. They talked about how busy the Cincinnati team is across all their disciplines and how there is never a shortage of work. Tyler says, “I joined CEC because of the senior level guidance and mentorship that I wasn’t able to get at my last company. I also was excited about the opportunity to manage projects with multiple engineering disciplines. CEC had the senior-level guidance and the multi-discipline expertise to make me the well-rounded engineer I strive to be.”

The Cincinnati team has been growing at a steady rate. A couple of weeks ago, they added Ryan Russell to the Survey/Geospatial practice and Ben Thompson to the Ecological Sciences practice. On their first day, when asked why they decided to join CEC Cincinnati, they echoed some of the same points Eric and Tyler brought up. “The main thing that made me want to join CEC Cincinnati was how welcoming they were during my interview and how they seem to enjoy each other’s company both at work and outside of it,” said Ben. Ryan said he joined for “the opportunity to work with a known company that has proven success and given me the ability to advance my skills and knowledge with new technologies.”

Anniversary activities will continue throughout 2022, culminating with a client/employee event at Cincinnati’s Rhinegeist Brewery in September.

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About CEC Cincinnati

As CEC’s first branch office location, CEC Cincinnati has been an important geographic market for the firm since 1992. Originally focused on environmental and solid waste projects, the Cincinnati office has grown to provide a full complement of geo-environmental services. Our experienced staff serves clients from all of CEC’s target market sectors, including real estate, manufacturing, oil & gas, power, solid waste, mining, and the public sector. Our technical expertise includes civil engineering/site development, land surveying and GIS, geotechnical and environmental engineering, ecological sciences, water resources, and solid waste management.