TransCanada Reviews in Calgary, AB Area

Pros

Lots of things going on. Good people. Star bucks in the lobby. Good salary and benefits. Seem to be proactive.

Cons

Moving around company is difficult. Work load. Not enough people to do the work. Seem really proud to have people work long hours.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to progress the company and grow the company into new areas of North America. Continue to support employees.

Pros

Very happy with peers. A lot of great people to work with.

Cons

The work seems to be biased by individual manager agendas. When you have politically driven work and sneaky / ambitious management who are interested in looking good to their superiors, it creates an environment ripe with partisans - those who the managers favor vs those who don't. Progress for those who don't obviously is non-existent.

Advice to Senior Management

Newsflash - the Peak Performance and Leadership development program is not working! Stop measuring this program by surveying the managers. Survey the ones who receive the leadership..and not just once a year with the 360 degree reviews. Managers find ways to identify the ones who give negative reviews..and punish them.

Pros

- stability, financial strength, etc.
- very interesting business
- lots of opportunities (although it's up to you to find and create them)
- good work life balance (depending on your manager -- see comment below)

Cons

- sometimes slow moving
- not going to get rich off the stock (but it will retain it's value and grow over time)
- your experience depends greatly on your manager (if you've got a good manager its fantastic, but a bad manager could be a horrible experience)

Advice to Senior Management

- keep it up
- continue to focus more on the "people" aspects of running the organization (great strides in the last couple years, but still a long way to go)

Pros

Good overall compenstaion and pension plan. Very friendly personnel.

Cons

Incompetent middle managment. Unclear directions. Very low oppourtunity for advancement. Too much politics. Too much process red tape. Huge disconnects between various departments

Advice to Senior Management

Too many management layers. Need to focus on getting the job done rather than sharpening their political skills.

Pros

Interesting and challnging work.
Very professional people work there who are committed to doing a good job.
Good compensation practices and excellent benefits.
There is a general understanding at the corporate level about the importance of investing in people.

Cons

It is a very structured work environment where there seems to be a policy, procedure or process for everything and anything. If you are a creative, self starting individual, this is not the place for you. If you like structure, clear objectives and favor management over leadership - this may be a good place for you to work.

Advice to Senior Management

Not all of the intellectual capital in the organization is held at the VP level and above. Actually inspiring people to take the initiative and do work to the best of their ability will likely pay some real dividends.

Pros

Fairly good compensation package with flexibility of purchasing more vacations.

Cons

Too much office politics between departments. Lack of clear directions from senior managements. Opportunities for promotion or internal transfer are minimal unless you worked for the company for a long time. The demographic of company is mostly made up by baby boomers. Middle management lacks leadership and initiatives.

Advice to Senior Management

Should promote more training or continue education for people in the mid-thirties to prepare for the baby boomers' retirements. Best to have a re-organization of the middle management level.

Pros

As a whole, it is a safe organization. Essentially a low-risk player in the energy industry and that means more security.

Cons

While senior management (c-level) are forward thinking, middle management can tend to be archaec in their attitudes and approaches to management. TC has grown significantly in the last few years, and the internal divide is apparent. This translates to heightened frustration and job dissatisfaction at the employee level.

Advice to Senior Management

Some serious house keeping is in order at the middle management level. The cracks in corporate culture may be hard to see, but could result in serious performance shortcomings down the road.

Pros

TransCanada offers some really good Good benefits, and offers many opportunities to climb the coporate ladder as it is a bigger company.

Cons

It is very large, sometimes you feel like insignificant, just a fish in the ocean. It's hard to see all aspects of the work.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to spend more time on the indiviual may be with a mentorship program or some kind of professional guidance structure.

Pros

There is an opportunity for growth if you want to work hard and take on new challenges, however it can take a long time.

Cons

The work can get repetitive and become less of a challenge. If you like to take on new tasks it can be boring work.

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize talented employees and give them challenges in order to grow. The industry can fluctuate so reassure employees during the hard times.

Pros

As a regulated utility, it is fairly stable in comparison to the oil and gas industry.

Cons

Overwork is encouraged, even demanded. No support for employees when the inevitable burnout occurs.
As a regulated utility, it can tend to have an overly bureaucratic mentality.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat your employees like people instead of using them up and discarding them. You would then earn their loyalty and keep their experience for the benefit of the company.