Chesapeake Energy Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Chesapeake Energy full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – There are a lot of good people working at the company. The restaurants serve delicious food. Beautiful campus and we have the best of everything to do our jobs and in the way of workplace amenities.

Cons – Very political. Lots of the problems I see are cultural and a result of weak leadership. Speed has always been the driving currency but it comes at a very high price which we have to pay sometime. Huge amounts of inefficiency and waste. Business processes are often not well defined and often are contradictory between departments and at times within the same department.

Advice to Senior Management – Accept the fact you are going to have to make some people unhappy and lay down some boundaries. It is easy to look like a champ when everything is going your way, now comes the real test. Finally, if you give someone a job to do and can't offer any help, at least don't stand in their way.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Chesapeake Energy full-time for less than a year

Pros – If you are one of the select few who can get into the right department (i.e. if you have a world class college degree with excellent marks in ALL disciplines and multiple years of verifiable, relevant work experience) then this company is for you. It is rated one of the best places to work for a reason. However. . .

Cons – . . .for the other 99.9% of us, you will be treated like an ant. If you are a contractor, you are a dime a dozen and you feel like it too. Your performance is constantly under vicious scrutiny and there is hardly any room for error. You can have a phenomenal month or even multiple phenomenal months in a row, have one bad month, and be shown to the door. No warning. No probation. No negotiations. No kidding. And it doesn’t matter how long you’re there. Training seems to be in short supply as well. You can think you’re doing everything right and still be in the sand traps, and you won’t know until the verifiers give you the results back from your work which is only after you’ve submitted 3 or 4 sets that you’ve done wrong, and probably more sets than that if the verifiers are tied down with a project and can’t grade your work (this happens often). The verifiers are poorly trained too as they constantly make glaring errors (which reflect poorly on you if you don’t catch them). Your only hope is that your team leader will catch these errors which also may not happen as they bring in new, inexperienced ones every few months.

Advice to Senior Management – Train your people! It will be cheaper for you in the long run if you spend more time on training. It will also reduce your turnover which will in turn boost the morale of your team. It’s difficult to overtrain, but even if you do, that’s better than undertraining in every way imaginable

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Chesapeake Energy full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – 401k match, competitive salary, hype

Cons – Lack of advancement, lack of training opportunities, lack of funding for ed advancment, campus always under construction,

Advice to Senior Management – Top heavy

Former Employee – worked at Chesapeake Energy as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – campus is pretty cool and some of the people are nice

Cons – rat race. they treat you like a robot.

Advice to Senior Management – learn how to treat employees right

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Chesapeake Energy full-time for less than a year

Pros – The pay was decent for the easy work.

Cons – The company grew too big too fast. No defined, or poorly defined, job roles.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Chesapeake Energy

Pros – Pay and Benefits. Great workplace conveniences.

Cons – There are tons of politics and you have to be ready to play the game

Advice to Senior Management – Treat others the way you want to be treated

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Chesapeake Energy

Pros – 15% matching on your 401k (although it has a 5 year vest). 2 reviews per year, fitness center on campus -- and it's the nicest gym i've ever been a member of, many CHK sponsored events throughout OKC, always looking for the next big play.

Cons – if you're in HR, IT, or work at the fitness center, this would be the ideal employer for all of the pros mentioned above. however, if you're working in land, geo, or engineering and happen to be in one of the busier plays, get ready. i've heard from industry peers the CHK is talked about as a sweatshop -- and i understand why. you're expected to be there early (before 8 am) and stay late (after 5:30) every day. very micromanaged. i've had a senior exec walk into my office and scold me for using 11.5 point font instead of 12 point font on a simple proposal letter that was going to a partner -- simply a formality. if you know somebody or grew up in the E&P industry, especially in OKC, you're made. if you don't, watch out. promotions and salaries are based upon who your family is and how well senior management is interested in you, regardless of work ability or intellect. as far as salaries go, they're across the board. every offer letter i've received in the last 2-3 months has been for 20-25% more annually with similar benefits...but i imagine there's not that big of a difference in other departments.

Advice to Senior Management – hire senior management that has been proven as an expert in the industry due to an exceptional career, not just because the employee has been around since the inception of the company. you can reward an employee's loyalty through compensation...but not every senior employee should be in a position of leadership.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Chesapeake Energy

Pros – great benefits, lotS of PTO

Cons – POLITICAL FAVORATISM, Only negative feedback is given from management, processes change constantly; management is indecisive

Advice to Senior Management – Less intimidation techniques and more positive feedback to employees will boost morale and production

Current Employee – been working at Chesapeake Energy

Pros – Chesapeake provides an excellent campus environment in Oklahoma City, complete with three restaurants and a first-rate fitness center. Most campus employees have individual offices (no cubes!), about half of those with closable doors. Benefits and compensation are competitive, considering the relatively poor IT job market in OKC. The C-level execs generally are charismatic and approachable, though there are exceptions. Chesapeake gives back heavily to the community and encourages its employees to do so as well.

Cons – Chesapeake continues to suffer the consequences of poorly-managed growth (1000% in just 6 years). In the IT department specifically, lax selection practices have produced a top-heavy organization saturated with marginal talent at all levels. Marginal coworkers mean more failed projects and dissatisfied customers. Marginal management leads to promotions based on politics and showmanship. The department has three titular levels for technical resources: associate, "regular" and senior. Beyond that, the only advancement is supervisory. Management has developed an aversion to large, challenging projects. Given those factors, career growth potential for senior technical resources is quite limited. Finally, the corporate culture tends to the conservative side, leading to some unfortunate aspects. Internet access is heavily filtered, blocking much business-related content. The company often encourages its employees to vote for certain candidates and to donate money to the Chesapeake FedPAC.

Advice to Senior Management – Institute better hiring practices to find better talent. Make employees at all levels financially accountable for success. Identify and lose the least-productive 25% of the company (seriously). Reduce the non-business-critical expenditures: lavish parties, landscaping, buying nearby businesses, questionable CEO bonuses.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Chesapeake Energy

Pros – Benefits, facilities, beautiful campus, amazing gym ( before, after work or lunch time only). Wellness program, good pay. Got to learn a lot here as the company is very ahead In what it does.

Cons – Micromanagers. Master slave environment, my way or the highway attitude from seniors. Seniors often step on your toes to get credit. Extremely long hours (11+) and this is expected from managers. No team interaction, or team building activities. All work no play. All the facilities and events are for non operation groups to benefit from. No Internet acces. Most teams have daily meetings early in the morning. Some teams get to work at 6:00 in the am.

Advice to Senior Management – Be nice and take time to talk and communicate with your employees. Work towards team building. Create a comfortable and fun environment to work in, and your employees will actually want to come to work everyday.