NuStar Energy Reviews

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

Pros – Current upper management has good vision. Clean facilities.

Cons – Became bogged down in the asphalt business. It drained their profits for a few years.

Advice to Senior Management – Stick with what you do best. Terminals and pipelines.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – This company really knows how to market the image it wants the outside world to see, even to the extent of strong-arming employees into “donating” time and money to the company’s preferred charities.

Cons – Check your moral standards at the door before you go to work for this company. Multiple employee lawsuits against it. Significant penalties incurred for workplace violations. Don’t get too excited over the “excellence” of their benefit package – odds are good you will never get to realize those benefits. Model employees have been fired for no good reason despite excellent performance reviews. Go figure. This is your typical oil company through and through, nothing more.

Advice to Senior Management – Try hirin some quality people of good character to manage this company at all levels.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – Great Company to work for.Feels like it's family orientated and you are truly treated like a person and not a number. The company cares about the community and pushes their employees to volunteer.

Cons – Salary is not as competitive as the bigger pipeline/ energy companies.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at NuStar Energy as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – Company is always trying to improve things for employees and the community. The culture is great. People are very nice. A happy environment.

Cons – Changes are slow. Accounting department works as an outside service, so the communication from that deparment to the others are very bad. HR is slow to process new positions and employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Improve communication and accountability in all areas. Improve efficiency in the HR departament. Take more risk to improve growth faster.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at NuStar Energy

Pros – They tend to hire good people, most of the worker bees are very good.

The 401K and pension is decent, fairly common if you work for an large company, 6% match dollar for dollar.

If you are willing to move you will get advancement

The health benefits are good if you dont get sick a lot , they pay for a high deductable PPO plan no cost to you, but they have other plans which you can contribute to.

Education Benefits are ok.

They are a profitable company

Cons – United Way-They care about your contributions to the United Way more than they do your actual work, at a minimum you will give 1% and if you want promotion opportunities you better give 2% If you don't give you will be talked to by your boss and his boss.

PAC-You are expected to give .5% to the NuStar PAC

Salary and raises are below average for the energy industry-If you like your merit raise to never be above 2-2.5%, this is your company.

Bonuses-They brag about an all employee bonus but if you are not management it is peanuts. The stock options are so low it is almost not even worth mentioning.

Managment-Way too many manager titles, way too many Valero downsized mangers jumping ship and coming to NuStar.

Office Space type culture-You get to wear a tie 4 days a week at the SA HQ.

Good Ole Boy System-If your in the club its a Pro, but if your not which most aren't its a con.

Advice to Senior Management – Lower your United Way and PAC thresholds

Revise your bonus scheme to your workers

Reward hard working people with a real raise that is not tied to your UW giving rate.

Once the economy rebounds some, you will see many people leave for greener pastures if no action is taken.

Current Employee – been working at NuStar Energy

Pros – Nustar Energy's benefits are some of the best in the industry and their retirement plan is very good as well.

Cons – 1. I did not receive a performance evaluation in the entire time I have worked at Nustar Energy. When other people in my department received stock options I did not as I have not had a performance evaluation. I asked my manager about this and he said that he 'forgot', but that he would do one next year.
2. Work performed is not complimented or acknowledged.
3. My manager steals credit for projects that I have excelled in performing.
4. You are told to contribute at least 1% of your salary to United Way. The unspoken word is that if you don't you will not be promotod.

Advice to Senior Management – Make sure that every employee has a timely performance evaluation at the company as that seems to be lacking. Try to cut down on the 'good old boy' culture.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at NuStar Energy

Pros – Very Professional Atmosphere mixed with relaxed low pressure environment. Employees are trusted, and empowerment is visible through the company. A great sense of pride is visible in every department, great sense of respect from peers and managers. Great pay and benefits, bonus, stock options, it makes a difference when acompany is trying to be the best.

Cons – NuStar is still small company in comparison, but still growing after spin off from Valero, The roots are strong and some employees need to get over the spin off from Valero. Although its nice to volunteer to help others, its seem like it’s a job requirement, If you don’t pledge to volunteer or donate to the United Way, you feel like you job would be at stake.

Advice to Senior Management – Share information on salary grade, publish salary ranges. Be more open, Salary ranges/earning potential shouldn’t be a secret.

Don't be so head strong in the volunteer arena, employees feel like it’s a condition of employment, your using your employees to support you own ideals.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at NuStar Energy

Pros – Great Healthcare benefits! Company pays 100% of monthly premium. 401K match is pretty standard for the energy industry at 6% of pay. Pension is good. This is probably a really good company for back office personnel

Cons – Company insists that all employees contributue to United Way. They do not care if you contribute to other charities. Each employee contribution is tracked and compared with a target contribution level that managment sets forth. If you do not meet the targeted contribution level, you will be having a rather weird conversation with your manager for "not giving enough". While the healthcare and 401K benefits are great, do your homework. The 401K match is pretty standard in the energy industry and the healthcare benefits are probably worth around $5K/year. These benefits do not make up for the extremely low pay. The pension is good, but again, alot of energy companies have them and vest in 3 yrs, not 5. Yearly issue of units (Stock) has dropped 40% in the last 4 years.

Advice to Senior Management – Company is extremely top heavy with high level managers(VP's) that do not have anyone working for them. Feel that the company is at an inflection point in its history. We keep selling our pipeline assets (from almost 10,000 miles of pipeline in 2008 to about 5,000 miles today) and increasing our refining assets. Are we a refiner or pipeline and terminal company?

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend