Sydney Water
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    Sydney Water
    (101 reviews)
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    Company Reviews

    Working at Sydney Water

    3.3101 ratings in total
    5
    24
    4
    30
    3
    15
    2
    18
    1
    14
    94%
    Rate salary as high or average
    60%
    Employees recommend this employer to friends
    Work/Life balance
    3.9(100 ratings)
    Career development
    2.9(100 ratings)
    Benefits & perks
    3.1(100 ratings)
    Management
    2.7(100 ratings)
    Working environment
    3.3(100 ratings)
    Diversity & equal opportunity
    3.7(100 ratings)
    Ratings for Sydney Water are shared as-is from employees in line with our community guidelines

    Reviews

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    3.0
    Project Manager
    Apr 2026
    All Sydney NSWLess than 1 year in the role, current employee
    Great people, great work-life balance, top heavy organisation with lacklustre management
    The good thingsGreat people, great work-life balance
    The challengesA top-heavy bureaucratic organisation - but ineffectual & unaccountable management
    2.0
    Project based role
    Mar 2026
    Parramatta NSW 2150Less than 1 year in the role, former employee
    Lacks growth and balance
    The good thingsJob security and the pay
    The challengesWork life balance isn't great. Workload isn’t evenly distributed. Some people do far less but are paid the same as those putting in extra effort. The culture could definitely be improved and there’s limited opportunity for career progression. Moving up is difficult unless someone senior leaves which doesn't happen often. Many employees stay longterm more out of comfort or limited external options than genuine growth.
    1 person found this helpful
    2.0
    Production Oifficer
    Mar 2026
    Blue Mountains & Central West NSW10 to 11 years in the role, former employee
    Poorly managed and unsupportive of work life balance.
    The good things9 Day fortnight, decent salary, interesting role, worked with some good people.
    The challengesPoor support for new starters. Lack of training and support causing unsafe work conditions at times. Lack of career advancement, you practically have to wait for someone to retire to have a chance of progressing in the role. Management has a culture of either micro managing your every movement, or no management at all. The company says it supports a "work life balance" but in reality does not. Excessive amounts of overtime.
    1 person found this helpful
    1.0
    CSR
    Feb 2026
    Parramatta NSW 21501 to 2 years in the role, former employee
    Chaos in a bottle, do not apply.
    The good thingstraining team is really good
    The challengeseverything else have a lot of space for improvement. they keep hire contactors for a year and then let them go
    2 people found this helpful
    4.0
    Management Accounting Analyst
    Jan 2026
    Parramatta NSW 21505 to 6 years in the role, current employee
    I enjoying working for Sydney Water and fully allign with the organisation values
    The good thingsSupportive Management, and wonderful colleagues to work with
    The challengesBetter communication with the business
    5.0
    Instructional Designer
    Oct 2025
    Homebush NSW 2140Less than 1 year in the role, former employee
    A dynamic and rewarding place to work where collaboration and adaptability truly matter.
    The good thingsSupportive team culture with a clear purpose, excellent collaboration across change, training and project teams. Access to great systems and resources, and a genuine focus on creating quality learning outcomes for end users.
    The challengesLarge-scale transformation means priorities can shift quickly, requiring flexibility and resilience. Working within complex programs can be demanding, but also rewarding once processes are established.
    4.0
    Supplier Relationship Specialist
    Jul 2025
    Parramatta NSW 21506 to 7 years in the role, current employee
    High pay, but sets back your career
    The good thingsGood culture, low stress, job guarantee, high base salary
    The challengesNo motivation to work beyond bare minimum, no financial incentives. You will meet a lot of people who have no motivation.
    1 person found this helpful
    3.0
    Customer Service Representative
    Jul 2025
    Parramatta NSW 2150Less than 1 year in the role, former employee
    It wasn't a bad job but there was nothing great about it, the work wasn't challenging.
    The good thingsThe salary and benefits were really good. The people you worked with were always friendly and supportive.
    The challengesThe culture could be abit clicky from time to time, if you were liked you had more opportunities. They boasted on internal movement but in reality its very minimal and management wont approve CSR's for secondments to other area so that reduces growth again. Alot of team manager changes, made it very disruptive and no clear plans or rapport being built with who was there that month.
    3 people found this helpful
    2.0
    Project Manager
    Jun 2025
    Parramatta NSW 21505 to 6 years in the role, current employee
    Restrictions on promoting employeesGood conditions but no room to grow Restrictions on promoting employees. Good if you are comfortable with being in the same position for many years. No way to level up.
    3 people found this helpful
    1.0
    CSR
    May 2024
    Sydney NSW 2000
    Don't bother.
    The good thingsFlexible work, RDO every fortnight and a decent salary.
    The challengesManagement are either non-existent or completely in your face and over-bearing. HR are ghoul-ish and robotic. Repetitive and boring work.
    8 people found this helpful
    4.0
    Senior Production Officer
    Mar 2024
    Sydney NSW 20003 to 4 years in the role, former employee
    Senior Managers have no idea.
    The good thingsTeam I worked with was great.
    The challengesSenior management have no idea what it’s like on the ground floor. Head Office completely disconnected from the rest of the world.
    4 people found this helpful
    3.0
    Customer Service Representative
    Jan 2024
    Parramatta NSW 2150Less than 1 year in the role
    I would still recommend Sydney water as a great place to work, and would state that your experience will largely depend on your manager and the department you belong to. The training is adequate and review processes are regular and detailed. Success and enjoyment in this role will greatly depend on your individual preferences towards managerial styles.
    The good thingsThe work environment is pleasing and very welcoming, there is a lot of tenured staff to offer assistance And direction when needed. The pay for this type of role is above average, and the training is quite extensive and does a great job at allowing new employees to learn about the systems and processes of Sydney water.
    The challengesSydney water being a company that utilises a hybrid working style and approach falls short in some aspects. With each team and employee, having designated days to be in the office, it can take an extensive period of time to connect and really form connections with fellow peers. Additionally, if you are in the contact centre role, you will constantly be pulled up and questioned about any breaks you take outside of the scheduled breaks. Which are quite short in comparison to other companies. For example, this could include having to justify and explain why you took a 10 to 15 minute break to use the bathroom during a three hour period between breaks. The management style you experience will depend on the manager you have, managers are, however, constantly changing, and sometimes hard to reach when needed. The culture of the workplace is for the most part a positive space, however senior members of teams and tenured staff make little effort to hide their displeasure with the companies higher ups and working conditions.
    3 people found this helpful
    4.0
    Senior Manager HR and OD Projects
    Feb 2023
    3 to 4 years in the role
    I enjoyed this role and the opportunities it gave me to deliver innovative, high quality programs of work, based on International Best Practice, Research and quality learning design principles.
    The good thingsI was given the opportunity to use my Masters in Organisational Development and broad cross-sector consulting experience, working with a committed GM group and teams, developing and implementing some innovative and highly engaged People Development Programs and strategies that were applied 'on the job'. I enjoyed seeing the take-up and transfer of learning from programs into teams. I also enjoyed seeing the 'measurable' difference in readiness of managers, (succession, performance and career development / progression measures) also 'leader 'bench-strength'. I also enjoyed working with motivated graduates and operational teams.
    The challengesLeading and partnering the shift to blended learning (inc. online) and learning on the job. Introducing 'learner led learning' and also driving and partnering performance culture shift, (with GM's) and the change and redesign of learning into Frameworks and Career Pathways. Participant Feedback & performance KPI measures were important. The success of the role also meant that the role became under resourced. Career progression was also frustrated due to incumbency.
    2.0
    Project Manager
    Aug 2022
    former employee
    A big bin fire made of dead wood.
    The good thingsCan get decent conditions
    The challengesThe company has low skill level generally and you will deal with a lot of people who don't really know what they are doing but presume that they do. There is little to no people management and no real structure so it is impossible to deal with problem employees. The systems all work against each other so somehow they expect you to fight some heroic battle to fix all of their issues.
    11 people found this helpful
    1.0
    People leader
    Jun 2022
    Less than 1 year in the role, former employee
    I would not recommend working for this organisation, in my opinion Sydney Water is culturally inept.
    The good thingsSydney Water pays an above average salary to its employees.
    The challengesThe culture within this organisation needs to change. Working as a people leader you quickly learn that your team's success is your success and that your team's failures are their own. You push blame onto your staff instead of supporting them and providing them with the tools needed to succeed. The level of support is minimal, it stems from upper management and trickles down the line. Sydney Water is stuck in the past when it comes to an agile workplace, they have a lack of understanding on how to successfully implement this. There was no onboarding process, you basically get your laptop and phone and are sent on your way to figure everything out on your own. If you ask for guidance, you generally get sent round in circles only to end up being told to submit a request or that it is self-service. They talk about Blue Bus but don't practice it. People generally stick around because they are paid well and comfortable in their roles or because they know that they don't have the necessary skills to make it in the real world.
    13 people found this helpful
    5.0
    Maintenance Electrician
    Mar 2021
    5 to 6 years in the role, former employee
    Loved it
    The good thingsGreat place to work
    The challengesResponsible for the maintenance which ultimately delivered water to Sydney
    1 person found this helpful
    4.0
    Plant Manager
    Jan 2021
    Wonderful company and will like to work again
    The good thingsTake care of employees, Lot to learn, Value's the talents and hard work, Very good working environment
    The challengesSalary is average as compared to private companies
    1 person found this helpful
    5.0
    Analyst
    Aug 2020
    Great
    The good thingspeople really nice, good work life balance, less stress
    The challengesold culture that needs to change, transformation is harder with people working more than 20 years in this company still holding on old ways of doing things.
    3 people found this helpful
    4.0
    Water Program Officer
    Jul 2020
    former employee
    Excellent organisation to kick-start a career
    The good thingsStrong supportive environment
    The challengesInformation from top bottom can be blurred
    1 person found this helpful
    3.0
    Information Technology Architect
    Mar 2020
    1 to 2 years in the role
    Cruisy job that won't progress your career
    The good thingsNo one works hard at SW, pretty cruisy job if you want to wait it out to retirement
    The challenges- Working in IT, it's like stepping into a time warp back 10 years, including technologies and methodology - weak mgmt with no strategy. - people are prompted based on personality rather than competance
    5 people found this helpful
    4.0
    Change Specialist
    Mar 2020
    A good organisation with passionate Intelligent people
    The good thingsThe values of the organisation and diversity of people, skills & profession
    The challengesSiloed and difficult to get buy-in and collaboration across the business
    2 people found this helpful
    5.0
    Project Manager
    Mar 2020
    excellent
    The good thingsgood staff and good atmosphere
    The challengesNone whatsoever, just needed better collaboration.
    5.0
    Manager, information management
    Mar 2020
    3 to 4 years in the role, former employee
    Love the work they do???
    The good thingsGreat people trying to do the right thing
    The challengesToo many government imperatives distracting the business
    5.0
    Architect
    Mar 2020
    Very valuable customer of SAP and very innovative..
    The good thingsVery friendly environment Acknowledgement of diversity
    The challengesComplexity and heterogeneous environment
    4.0
    Customer Delivery Consultant
    Mar 2020
    Great
    The good thingsRdo every fortnight . Great team culture
    The challengesDefinitely the contracts . No stability
    1 person found this helpful
    2.0
    Communications Officer
    Mar 2020
    current employee
    A challenge to produce high quality work on deadline.
    The good thingsFlex work environment.
    The challengesLeadership vortex and too many internal processes that are opaque.
    5.0
    Business Administration Support Officer
    Mar 2020
    Too many chiefs not enough indians
    The good thingsThe people were wonderful
    The challengesDealing with middle managers
    4.0
    Programs Manager
    Feb 2020
    A great organisational purpose, passionate people and opportunities to try different things
    The good thingsFantastic, passionate people. All my managers have been very supportive. Seeing a positive change towards being more customer focused
    The challengesCan be difficult to navigate the hierarchy to be able to make a difference. Some pockets of poor manager/staff behaviour
    2.0
    Information Technology Support Role
    Jan 2020
    1 to 2 years in the role, former employee
    Not my best experience
    The good thingsThe people were always willing to engage
    The challengeswork life balance, poor management, lack of process
    1 person found this helpful
    1.0
    Manager
    Nov 2019
    3 to 4 years in the role, former employee
    Senior management hide real results from the board.
    The good thingsGolden handcuffs makes it hard to leave
    The challengesCulture is terrible. Sr mgmt are know it all's
    1 person found this helpful
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    Reviews by location
    All Sydney NSWBlue Mountains & Central West NSW