Con Edison of New York Reviews

Pros

The people are wonderful and the work is important. You can see the results of your efforts.

Cons

The hours are long and it is difficult to not take home the worries from work.

Advice to Senior Management

General managers should be rotated less often. If they stayed in one area for 5 years or more they could be held more accountable.

Pros

Support Flexible working arrangements. Promotes team work and continuous process improvement across the company. Promotes career development and career advancement.

Cons

Started in the company with 2 weeks vacation (should at minimum be 3 weeks). Doesn't allow working from home (in my department). Employees who have been with the company for 20 years or more are often times resistent to change.

Advice to Senior Management

Look at an individuals skill set (both from inside the company and what they gained before coming into the company). Skills are highly transferable. Review their resume along with other work experience gained within the company when considering them for posted jobs. Speaking with individuals over the phone for an interview doesn't always reflect the candidate in the best possible light. Provide them a face to face interview.

Pros

-It ain't going anywhere. As long as people need electricity/gas, Con Edison will not go bankrupt.
-Nobody gets fired unless you lie or steal company property (for management employees)
-Pay is pretty good compared to what's out there (except for the IT department)

Cons

-it ain't going anywhere. Here and there the company would want to pick up new markets but there won't be any group-breaking changes or development.
-this is over a century old utility company. Culture is very old-fashioned and military like. Supervisors/managers tend to stick their noses behind your back to make sure you are working. they get on your nerve every so often.
-no career growth unless you plan to stay in the company 10+ years. there are good bunch of employees that have spent most of their lives in the company and are not ready for changes. unfortunately most of the senior management are of this group. they will tell you (directly or indirectly) that you are wrong and they are right because they have been doing their jobs before you were born. it's not just about swallowing pride; it's about you don't have a say when it comes to decision making. you feel powerless.

Pros

it is a safety first company

Cons

not too much over time

Pros

The benefits are good, so is tuition aid and training.

Cons

The culture is a downside.

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership needs to value innovative, ambitious employees more, instead they value more tenure and experience.

Pros

-great work location
-great work-life balance
-generally, good work
-great tuition-reimbursement program (paid for my MBA)

Cons

-can work for incompetent upper management (not always the case)
-work experience can be limited (best if you are an engineer, accountant, or business person)
-I personally began to feel unfulfilled after a while with the work I was given.

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure to have regular one-on-one meetings with your staff to get a good perspective of what they are feeling. You have a lot of talented young people who come to work for the company, don't lose them by not giving them challenging work.

Pros

Tuition reimbursement program... stable/steady hours. You know you'll be leaving at 5pm if that's when you need to leave.

Cons

work gets repetitive after a while. Sometimes boring. Too much red tape to get anythign productive done..Management afraid to try something new.

Advice to Senior Management

if management wants real change, then let the younger crowd take on leadership roles. There's a LOT of talent from the newer folks here and most of them are completing their Masters and moving on.

Want to reduce overhead costs? Give us all laptops and let us work from the field/home when approperiate! What's the point of coming to work just to go out to the field 5 minutes after coming in? We're going to charge all that time to specific projects anyway (and by extension increase the overhead costs). It's 2011, and less than 50% of the company has laptops, and even fewer can work remotely. Pretty sad from a contingency point of view that we can't work remotely when/as needed.

Pros

Great people to work with who enjoy celebrating different life events. After work we have parties, sports, dinners, etc. Trust in doing what you need to do, and doing it right. Great benefits - Medical, Dental, 401K, Pension...

Cons

Not enough time off for relaxation/vacation, Strict on lateness and sick days. Really that's the only problem I find with the company.

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Strong long-term interpersonal relationships with coworkers.
Opportunity to provide essential service in NYC..
Good benefits package.
Fair salary.
Opportunity for personal growth if you keep your eyes and ears open..

Cons

Bureaucratic morass, Sometimes procedures seem more important than results.
Unionized "blue-collar" mentality, even in middle managements can be grating.
Merit and competence insufficiently rewarded
Overly conservative management style.
Many incompetent or disinterested employees linger for entire career.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to be more proactive and less reactive. Too much tolerance for mediocrity. Actions speak louder than slogans.

Pros

Salary is OK but overall compensation is good (Stock Purchase Plan w/ 11% match, 401k w/ match up to half of 6%, Pension!)
Overtime
Stability
Education Reimbursement
Training
If you manage subordinates, your reach max pay much faster.

Cons

Generally:
Promotions don't make sense. Inexperienced people are promoted over more qualified employees. I think this is the reason for the divide between the newcomers (<5yrs) vs. the older generation of employees.
Many employees seem very demoralized.
If you do not supervise anybody, raises do not keep up with inflation.
Work lots of hours

When I was in the union:
Process to move up in title was very difficult.
In the time I spent in the union trying to move up in title, I could've got another degree.
Didn't feel like I was treated as an equal employee.

HR will try to undercut you on the salary offer. Negotiate!

Moral is highly dependent on which department you work in. Some department/people are miserable. Some are very happy.

Advice to Senior Management

With the exception of the field employees, company should be more flexible with work schedules and work/life balance.

Salary is just OK. Raises should be respectable for those who do not work in the field or supervise.