Terasen Gas Reviews

Pros

*Sincere commitment to investing in its employees
*Extremely collaborative and positive working environment
*A la carte style health/insurance benefits (opt out of certain features and get credit/compensation, where desired)
*Good opportunities to learn all aspects of the utility business
*Opportunities to shift jobs functionally or regionally within the company--across electric and gas divisions

Cons

*Located in Surrey, B.C. which is a stressful commute from Vancouver
*No participation in local transportation programs or support for those who must commute long distances to get to work
*Compensation is not competitive

Advice to Senior Management

There should be some support for those employees who must commute long distances to get to work, ie. participate in Metro Vancouver's Translink program or provide a small subsidy for employees that carpool to work over longer distances

Pros

Quasi monopoly so the job is quite secured. The paycheck is quite on par with other utilities. Working hours are standard except during fiing seasons.

Cons

If you are looking for a leap in your career, it might not be the case as in other utilities. There are typical corporate bureaucracies.

Advice to Senior Management

More flexibility in working hours and more work/life balance are recommended. The management is good in general, although recent merging brought about some turbulence.

Pros

Wages and benefits. The health benefit package will more than cover the medication you will eventually be on.

Cons

Mid level management is virtually useless and most of them are trying not to rock the boat on the short sailing to retirement.

Advice to Senior Management

You have allowed levels of bureaucracy to establish a footing that isn't even seen in government. Eventually the BCUC will get wind of this gig and pop the bubble.

Pros

Decent benefits, competitive salary, location

Cons

Promotions within can be unfair at times, hard to get the recognition one deserves.

Pros

Kelowna and the southern part of BC is a nice place to live.
Electric and gas utilities make for secure employment
The company pays an good salary if you don't consider Alberta

Cons

Engineers should be able to participate in field work and get more hands on opertunities. It is difficult to find opertunities to get out of the office.
frequent changes to management and reporting structure

Advice to Senior Management

A better mentoring program would be helpful, the EIT program could provide more support for goal setting and comunication about expectations and improvements. It has been difficult to get recommendations for improvements even when requested.
Limited opertunity to be involved in field work or participate in tasks other than sitting in front of a computer screen - it would be nice to learn in the field as well..

Pros

Large opportunities for advancement or transfers to positions around the company. Open and well-lit work environment. Good career/social life balance with a lot of options regarding maternity leave, vacations and employee-made events. Very secure job, typically business doesn't fluctuate too heavily. The CEO Randy Jespersen is an incredible guy. When I started I wanted to meet with him and irregardless of my lowly position, we had lunch and he shared some insightful knowledge with me.

Cons

A lot of people tend to work there to receive their retirement package, not a lot of motivation around you to push to the next level. Management gives you performance reviews and opportunities to advance but most people ignore it. Information can tend to get stuck in departments and not readily shared unless you know the right people in other departments. Can be too bureaucratic at times when trying to implement a creative solution to a problem.

Advice to Senior Management

Change the workforce dynamics, and allow for more creative input from employees. Get them more involved in the financial health of the company and improve the information flow.

Pros

It pays a wage and puts food on the table

Cons

They pick favourites and use the good ol boys

Advice to Senior Management

Increase wages/Better retirement benefits/More employee recognition/Think about employees not just the stock price