The EPC Paradox: Why Top Companies Hire Fresh Talent but Keep Their Bottom 10%

 Working in a top EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) company opens your eyes to a harsh truth:

The biggest bottleneck to progress is not competition, not the client, not the project — it’s the company’s own internal 10% redundant workforce.

Let me explain.

1️⃣ The Profitability Trap: Competing at –20% but Expected to Deliver 20% More

Most EPC projects today are bid at –20% of the estimated cost.
Margins are razor-thin.
The only way to stay profitable is time optimization — faster progress, quicker decisions, tighter monitoring.

But time optimization is exactly what the bottom 10% resists.

Why?

Because they fear that:

• Finishing early reduces their usefulness

• Reconciliation exposes inefficiencies

• Monitoring and follow-up create accountability

Their mindset is simple:
“Delay the project → stay relevant longer.”

This thinking quietly kills execution.

2️⃣ The Vicious Circle of Redundant Workforce

Here’s a cycle that almost every EPC company experiences:

1. Company competes fiercely

2. Bids at a low price

3. Needs strong monitoring & optimization

4. Bottom 10% resists change

5. Company hires consultancy

6. Consultancy is supervised by the same 10%

7. Consultancy underperforms

8. Blame goes everywhere — except the real source

It’s a self-defeating circle.

I’ve personally experienced this — 17–18 years ago, and multiple times since — being threatened or blocked simply for trying to introduce discipline and monitoring.

3️⃣ Lack of Consistent, High-Quality Manpower

Two major problems arise:

(a) Shortage of manpower capable of consistent follow-up

Monitoring, reconciliation, and chasing productivity require tireless consistency.
Most companies simply do not have enough people who can do this daily.

(b) Weakening internal capable teams

Many EPC companies already have strong project monitoring teams, but they are:

• Not empowered

• Not supported

• Not strengthened

• Not shielded from internal politics

So when they try to push standards, they are isolated or ignored.

4️⃣ The Overrated Celebration of Tenure

Some companies proudly publish lists of employees who have completed:

• 15 years

• 20 years

• 25 years

But tenure ≠ talent.

Realistically:

• 70% in that list are genuinely valuable

• 30% are simply redundant

Yet this entire group gets celebrated equally.
That 30% becomes the biggest roadblock in adopting modern project practices.

5️⃣ The Real Solution (But Rarely Implemented)

The truth is painfully simple:

EPC companies must remove the bottom 10% redundant workforce BEFORE hiring fresh talent.

But instead, they hire fresh engineers and place them under the same old structure.
The result?

Freshers burn out.
Consultancies underperform.
Projects get delayed.
And the cycle resets.

Unless the bottom layer is pruned, no fresh hire — no matter how talented — can fix the system.

Conclusion: The EPC Paradox

Top EPC companies want:

• Faster execution

• Better monitoring

• Improved profitability

• World-class project performance

But they are unwilling to remove the internal friction stopping all of this.

The bottom 10% continues to:

• Block optimization

• Resist accountability

• Undermine consultants

• Slow down execution

• Dilute culture

Real progress will begin the day EPC companies clean their internal house — not the day they hire new talent.