TVA Reviews

Pros

Great benefits, Great time off

Cons

Promotions are based on time-in-grade and not merit-based. You will only get to the top if you know someone in the executive level.

Advice to Senior Management

Operations has the ability to make decisions without taking the advice of the financial analysts/accountants, which is a very bad concept in theory and practice.

Pros

TVA compensation is good for the low cost of living area we serve. Most management is understanding of family obligations thereby making work - life balance easy in most cases.

Cons

There is not a lot of potential for internal promotion and there is constantly a state of flux or re-orgs and budget issues making work stressful much of the time.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus more on internal recognition and promotions when filling vacancies. Plan better for retirement successions. Settle on an organizaiton structure to give employees a better feeling of stability in their current job assignments.

Pros

The benefits, the stability, the location, and the career growth opportunities all provide reasons that you should work hard to become a TVA employee .

Cons

Its a very big company and as a government company it might be hard to get the job at times.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what your doing and people will continue to be attracted to your company as a workplace and as the biggest public power provider in the United States.

Pros

To learn about a specific job, to get out a lunch everyday, to meet prominent leaders in Tennessee

Cons

Not a dynamic company, very stagnate and rigid

Advice to Senior Management

Needs to be privatized.

Pros

Working with great people that are well trained professionals.The pay and benifits are outstanding. They respect you as a individual.

Cons

If you do not like shift work this is not the job for you. Getting a transfer back to my home area has been difficult. TVA seems to be more concerned about hiring new trainees than allowing there current employees a transfer before training new people and promotoing them.

Advice to Senior Management

Work on your transfer policy and get front line employees involved in decision making.

Pros

Good balance of work and family. Good benefits. People Are nice to work with. Large company with many facets.

Cons

Very beuracratic, most senior management tows the line, lots of silos. Hard to do anything without multiple reviews. Risk taking not encouraged or developed.

Advice to Senior Management

Kingston ash spill messed up the company, Kilgore succumbed to consultants mckinsey who started a disastrous reorg of the company rewarding the executives that hired them to more senior positions.

Pros

Good advancement.
Good pay raises.
Good succession planning (but you don't get the feedback)

Cons

Work/ work balance. TVA will suck all your time and want more.
TVA hires too many local people that once they "get into TVA" stop performing. Since we're government; they have a job forever.
I was the only engineer in a room of ~ thirty 22-25 yr old engineers that didn't graduate in TN.
No training program at all for managers and supervisors. Learn as you go.
MANY expectations are not proceduralized.
Change management does not exist.
Offices were built in the 1800s.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend money on plant improvements instead of making people spend their family time at work on broken equipment.

Pros

The retirement package is good.

Cons

TVA is a quasi-government organization.

Advice to Senior Management

The leadership is getting better. Change takes time and effective communicaiton is the key to a successful learning environment.

Pros

stable, good pay, decent benefits

Cons

good ole' boy network, too many Excelon managers being hired

Advice to Senior Management

Excelon isn't the only source for senior managers to be hired from.

Pros

Great pay for the southeastern region. Excellent holiday and vacation policy. Good benefits, especially for non-management. Heritage and history of TVA.

Cons

TVA has swept virtually all long-term (greater than 5-year) employees from the Executive ranks (VP and above), replaced with persons from Southern, Progress, Entergy, Excelon, and Duke. Now, moving into lower leadership ranks turning over and rotating senior management. Little rhyme or reason to changes, so far. Steady evolution from a technical engineering and operations company to an administrative, contracts management organization.

Advice to Senior Management

TVA has been reorganizing itself all 2010 (5-months), slowly peeling back one layer of leadership at a time with very, very little transparency or explanation. Most moves and promotions are unexplained, and even unexplainable. Hopefully, once this Chinese water torture version of reorganization is completed in June (?), everything will be made known, and the curtain will rip and the truth will reach even the lowly Gentiles.