Pacific Gas and Electric Reviews

Pros

+ If you love big corporations and want to strengthen your resume, this is your kind of place
+ Can learn a lot about doing nothing and get paid for it
+ Everyone heads for the elevators at 12 noon and 5 pm - and these were the non-union employees

Cons

- Teamwork, collaboration, and cooperation is lacking and bordering on non-existent
- Corporate behemoth bottlenecks and processes ensures many projects never get finished
- Way too many 'lifers' that are still on a free ride and have no shame in gaming the system

Advice to Senior Management

It's not about you, it's not about your egos, it's not about your shareholders, and it's not about your bottom line. If you took the time and exchanged some honest dialogue with your employees - to listen to what they have to say, even if you have to go out of your way to appreciate and thank them for jobs well done (I know for most management folk that's just way too below their standards) you possibly could get more out of their performances and, oh wow, you might even garner some, dare I type...RESPECT from those that continually bust their butts to make sure your team's goals are met so you can receive your cushy bonuses.

Pros

Safety is priority one and the company walks the talk on this issue.

Cons

Lack of resources in crucial departments requiring technical expertise. First line supervisors do not have the necessary tools to perform their jobs (lack of resources and head count restraints).

Advice to Senior Management

Upper management needs to be more aware of the value of various departments. Few departments get the management attention and necessqary resources.

Pros

Flexibility, supportive, interesting, positive, support when moving through company

Cons

Outdated, confused structure, outdated support, lack of new employees, dubious moral

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to employees

Pros

Good work life balance and good compensation. Large company with lots of training opportunities and you can learn a lot.

Cons

Still can be a bit bureaucratic.

Advice to Senior Management

Try to streamline the decision making process and break-down silos and the number of people who have to approve a decision.

Pros

Great benefits, good pension, most of the actual employees want to do what's right by the customers and the company. Some of the best friends I ever made were co-workers at PG&E.

Cons

Highly politically charged - some departments promote friends and those who make them "look good" over people with real talent and knowledge. It's hard to get anything done at this company because of all of the political game-playing and bureaucracy - so at the end of the day most employees feel drained and frustrated.

Advice to Senior Management

Get to know the people that you supervise and understand their talents and strengths. Promote people with experience and proven skills over those who play the game.

Also, upper management, stop changing the company direction every time the wind blows. Pick a practical path and stick with it. Most employees laugh at every new initiative and never take it seriously because no one ever follows through.

Pros

Good Pay
Pleasant co-workers
Steady 40 hour weeks

Cons

Management is completely inept
Managers and other "higher ups" ignore employees complaints about managers and supervisors
Treated like

Pros

Tuition reimbursement, 401K matching at 75%, good health benefits available ar reasonable amount. Good vacation and sick leave policy available.

Cons

Work locations can suck. I am in a spot with poor lighting, and that is noisy. Supervisor more worried about corporate real estate expense than employee well being.

Pros

-Good place to learn about the energy industry, esp. from a California regulated utility perspective
-Nice and friendly colleagues
-Good benefits
-Good work-life balance
-Safe and stable company (a monopoly that is not really affected by the state of the economy)
-Company seems to care about its employees' well-being

Cons

-Skills may not be transferable anywhere else other than at a California regulated utility
-Complacent culture, below-par work quality
-Little accountability
-Extremely bureaucratic and slow moving, almost like working for the government
-Very risk-averse, cannot make any decision, everything is a "maybe," there is no clear "yes" or "no"
-Senior Management not really know what's going on, losing touch with reality and only reacts when something "bad" happens such as a pipeline blows up and kill people, smart meters backlash, etc.

Advice to Senior Management

-Keep up some of the good work you are doing in trying to transform the company's culture to be more competitive for the 21st Century.
-Be more proactive, not reactive
-Treat customers as real customers, not merely ratepayers
-Accept responsibility and accountability and make a real effort to operate more competently and safely, esp. when your company is operating dangerous facilities/equipments that can cause fatal accidents to your employees and customers.

Pros

Everyone seems to work well with each other.
Customer-focused employees work extremely hard, given the negative press PG&E has been given recently.

Cons

Many layers of management.
Facilities themselves are out of date, dark, and can be somewhat depressing.
There are a number of people just putting in their time, waiting for retirement.

Advice to Senior Management

Always be focused on the customer, and other things should fall in place. Don't be so focused on certain employees getting the closed door office, etc.

Pros

Great people who really care about their work.
Fantastic Benefits and fairly good work life balance.
The company is really trying to positively affect climate change and actively promotes volunteerism in the community.

Cons

It is difficult to get promoted because they would rather bring in leadership from the outside
Very poor internal communication
More concerned about making things look good rather than actually work well.
Process not results orientation
Lots of duplication of efforts
Extremely vertical management structure

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees who are doing the work. Your managers and directors are taking credit and telling you what you want to hear.