Pros

(Observations from a salaried, non-union point of view)

Once hired in, HR and supervisors assume that you'll be working here for the rest of your life. No, seriously. There are frequent office parties for 30 and 35 year service anniversaries. Working at Consumers for 10 years still ranks someone as a "new guy". Consumers is one of the (if not the) best place to work in Jackson- and they know it. Talking about working somewhere else will result in looks of "That's crazy talk".

There is a very large percentage of married couples who both work at Consumers- though never in the same department.

Consumers works very hard to keep their employees. There are the usual "Employee Assistance Programs" for anonymous phone counseling. Disgruntled employees are encouraged to apply for jobs in other parts of the company (see below). Employees with severe problems doing the basics of their jobs go through a formal "probation" process where they are monitored & guided through getting their act together- a 6 month process. It is virtually impossible to get fired if you at least put in a half-hearted effort & do nothing illegal.

Consumers strongly encourages employees to apply for internal job postings. I assume the premise is that they want everyone working for the company to be happy in what they are doing - therefore if someone is thinking about leaving their job, it's better to have them move to a different position within the company. Most job postings, except for entry level positions, are filled internally.

Part of the company is unionized, but most positions are not. This union portion has a strong influence on the culture of the rest of the company. All jobs within the company have a formal pay-grade - from 1 to 25. (19 & above are executive and board level grades.) Each pay grade has a formal definition for qualifications, usually in the form of years served at the previous pay grade.

Each pay grade has a target pay, company-wide. Everyone's pay will differ from that pay grade slightly, however raises are skewed to trend pay toward that target rate. (For example, underpaid 12's will get higher raises, overpaid 12's with get smaller raises) The skewing is currently designed to get a typical person to their mid-range within 5 years.

Vacation pay is also strictly on a years-of-service basis. 15 days is standard for salaried workers, with an additional 5 days for each 5 years, up to a max of 30 days. Again, this is for salaried non-union. Union workers have their own set of complex rules, and contractors get nothing.

There is very often a "management vs worker" mentality, even in areas where that doesn't make any sense. In some departments, over 50% of the workers are a supervisor over one or more people in addition to their normal work. As a result, the org chart is very deep in some areas. It's not unusual to have 8 or more levels of managers under the CEO.

Culture & atmosphere of a given job depend largely on the first few layers of mangers you have. Some are very relaxed, others are very up-tight and by-the-book. In a company as large as Consumers, there will be wide variations of "what it's like to work here".

There is, in some cases, overtime pay for salaried workers. Typically this is for special projects that have a time sensitive deadline. There is also well-defined extra pay for on-call duty. These are unheard of perks based on the companies I have worked for.

If you want to work yourself to death doing 80 hour weeks, nobody will stop you. You probably won't get anything but a pat on the back, either. In theory, harder working employees get bigger raises- however between the many layers of managers and the skewing of pay rates toward central target pay grades, this rarely has any real effect.

Conversely, if you do a minimally competent job, you will never get fired- even in this economy. You won't get promoted, either.

If caught testing positive on a random drug test, employees get free rehab for the first offense. Employees are fired on the 2nd positive test, if they are non-union. (Union rules are more complex, and more forgiving.)

People with formal Engineering degrees are considered a higher class person. There are many pay grades and job classifications that can only be filled by Engineers. Most executives, even at the highest levels, have Engineering degrees and/or decades of EE experience.

Consumers still has a pension plus a 401(k) benefits. Health case benefits are probably the best in the area & industry.

There is a culture of being risk adverse, and focusing on long term stability. The company was founded in 1910, and Consumers will be around in another 100 years. The power has to stay on, and we have to provide it. Work done today will likely exist for decades- even in the IT realm.

The vast majority of job changes within the company are lateral- meaning to a new position with the same pay grade and a minimal (< 3%) pay change. It is almost impossible to choose to move within the company and simultaniously get a promotion.

Promotions are confusing. Primarily promotions "just happen" based on the number of years served within the company. Note that this is not industry experience- but experience WITHIN Consumers. Your decades of experience in area "x" only matter when first applying for a job at Consumers. After that, the only thing that matters is the years of experience within the company.

Promotions can also happen when an opening directly above you appears. This may be from a reorganization or from your manager going to a different position. Typically in these cases, you will work in that position with the same pay for a few months- then receive a notice of a pay grade change. This results in much higher yearly raises. There might also be a small pay increase- again at or under 3%.

New people applying for a job at Consumers need to know that you can't negotiate for starting pay or benifits. Benefits come in a standard package, company wide. Starting pay & pay grade are, for the most part, determined by the HR department. HR looks at the applicant's qualifications and they set the pay for that person. It is not based on the job the person is doing- it is based on the person's history.

Be warned that a job posting advertised for a given pay grade are the highest pay or grade that Consumers would consider paying. The actual offered rate will be lower, and again, determined by HR. The hiring manager typically has leeway of only $2k or so, depending on the job.

The only thing that some managers can offer are additonal vacation days for the first year of service. Typically new hire's vacation days are pro-rated by month, with a 6 month restriction on taking a first vacation.

All job openings are posted on the company web site, and are visible for the whole Internet to see. Employees can see a slightly different version of this list, with a little more info on pay for a given posting. Having connections within the company has no formal advantage, other then knowing about an opening sooner and having better info about what, exactly, a job entails. Job postings stay up for 2 weeks, unless there are no applications. A posting older than 2 weeks means there have been no remotely qualified candidates, and the company is having a very hard time filling that position.

Many job postings do not get applicates qualified for the job. Some jobs don't get people even remotely qualified. Consumers has throughly drained the Jackson area of all qualified engineers. Most new workers have to be trained for their job- even for internal job moves. Therefore, apply for anything that looks interesting.

Cons

(See above- it's a complex issue)

Advice to Senior Management

Bonuses & pay tend to reward stability & lack of ambition. Why should I work above average when there's no reward?