FirstEnergy Employee Reviews about "upper management"

Pros

Friendly co-workers, employee gym, pay

Cons

I worked for one of FirstEnergy's nuclear generating stations for over six years. While I am grateful for my experience, after being gone for over three years and switching to a completely different industry I can confidently say that I would not recommend working here. First, get ready for loads of bureaucracy. You have to jump through hoops upon hoops to get anything done. Money is scarce. Management is top heavy. New ideas are not considered nor even encouraged. The industry has failed to innovate in the last 40 years. Heavy regulations have squashed any room for it. Unless the problem will shut down the plant, good luck getting money to fix it. I saw the writing on the wall the last few years I was there, which is why I jumped ship. A little over a year after I leave FE announces they are shutting down all their nuclear plants. Surprise surprise. When I was there it was a toxic work environment. No one seemed to like their job. You are treated like a number and expected to comply with any and all directives from upper management. Get ready for 72 hour work weeks during refueling outages and getting called in on your off days to deal with urgent issues. The unions make things worse. It's nearly impossible to get anything done as most (not all) of the union workers are lazy. However, if you try to take initiative to get things done, the union is there waiting to file a grievance on you. I once had a Reactor Operator have a meltdown on me while he was on shift in the control room. Yes, you read that right - this happened while he was supposed to be operating a nuclear reactor. When I went to HR about it, it got swept under the rug as they didn't want to disturb the union. There is no room for advancement beyond supervisor level unless you want to obtain your Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) license, which entails multiple years of shift work in the control room.

Pros

Nice office to work in. Had a good direct supervisor.

Cons

Upper management is a confusing chain with VPs reporting to Presdents that reported to VPs. Alot of politics and management at manager level was too hands off and removed from projects. Benefits of employees kept getting cut and right after they layed off some IT folks they bought the naming rights to the Cleveland Browns Stadium for a cool couple mil. Upper management does not care about employees or their workload, Many people have left and they rarely replace just distribute work to those who are still there.

Pros

Steady work with the number of storms and outages there is always work

Cons

Management is horrible, dont appreciate the employees. upper management is disconnected from the day to day operations. there is no trust too much manipulation goes on. Cant trust anyone. The environment is cut throat. The only thing that matter are the numbers they need to invest in the infrastructure to help avoid the number of customer outages they have

Pros

Sit down desk job. Free food. Great coworkers. Very friendly people.

Cons

Angry customers...listening to lyers all day. Upper management were showoffs and thought they were better than others.

Pros

Good work environment, decent pay. The group I worked in was great. For the most part, not too much trouble in day to day work.

Cons

Upper management not truthful about the state of the company. They relocate you, make you sign a contract to stay then lay you off before the contract ends. HR cannot be trusted. They will lie and tell you that they will pay to tie up your loose ends when you get laid off and renege at the last minute. I would not trust this company one bit. If you are very sick and have to go on medical, the company nurse will hound you and your doctor until you come back. It doesn't matter if you are getting paid or not. FMLA means nothing. Working storm can be a problem. You are expected to work 16 hours shifts with only 8 hours off. If you live further away, expect that to cut into your rest time. Also the company will send people off for public safety alone. Not a good thing because if something happens to you no one will know until you don't show up for work.

Pros

Very flexible . Room for a lot of a advancement

Cons

Need more support (employees). Hiring upper management or supervisory positions due to who they know.

Pros

pay, some of the people you meet will be great.

Cons

continue to cut benefits tons of forced overtime upper management completely unqualified insane rules to follow set up for failure no room for promotions or advancement past mistakes repeated, so same issues continue to arise lack of leadership in shift supervision Total control of your life. Have to submit blood sample once a year to medical

Pros

Decent pay, benefits probably comparable i suppose. Lots of potential storm OT.

Cons

Management constantly in disarray and has power struggles between management. Stupid decisions are made in upper management, and there is an every man for himself mentality. Minimal chances for advancement unless you know someone. They get rid of low level workers, won't replace them and then hire more managers and directors. Have totally unreal expectations at employee level, and move people around into unwanted positions. Some groups are treated great, while engineering is constantly getting dumped on. Low level supervisors aren't allowed to make any decisions, they all have to be run up the ladder, and you many times never get an answer. Rule is by fear and intimidation in some groups. Benefits are barebones anymore. Steadily going downhill in my 13+ years of employment. Morale as bad as I have ever seen it.

Pros

Great pay, good coworkers. Tony Alexander is no longer CEO. Hopefully Chuck Jones turns this company around.

Cons

I believed there are to many bosses (upper management), supervisors (foreman) are to young and have to little knowledge and people skills.

Pros

One of the best paying companies in Ohio. Opportunities are there, but you have to be willing to really seek them out. As always, you can be whatever you want to be but you must be engaged and willing to work for it.

Cons

Still a company of the good old boys. Opportunities for females are harder to come by. There are females in upper management but overall there is a tilt towards male management. A number of changes to benefits since the recession started. Not convinced they were need but they benefited the company at that time and will continue to provide benefit to company long term.