Laclede Gas Company Reviews

Pros

The people are nice and it's a solid job with good benefits. The CEO is wonderful and has made improvements along with the beautiful new building.

Cons

Middle management takes advantage of naive and ambitious employees. Most of the best employees leave sooner or later because they take advantage of their best employees repeatedly. The only way to advance is not through hard work but by being tied into their network of friends outside of work. If you're perceived as smarter than them forget it as they will promote someone who is dumb and they can control or someone outside that won't be a threat to them.

Pros

- Laclede has invested in a host of new, industry-leading, software. This has improved (and automated) many areas – from outside teams (construction & maintenance, etc) to Supply Chain to Customer Care to Human Resources and beyond. - The CEO is vibrant, and is actively growing the company through a merger and acquisition strategy and through technological advances in the Natural Gas industry, such as fleet vehicles (Spire) - There is a very positive and pleasant “teaming” atmosphere/company culture. Most cross-functional teams work well together, and accomplish projects on time and under budget - Employees are encouraged to get additional training/education externally (company pays up to $6k/year for tuition and also builds training classes into most department budgets). Advanced Degrees are valued. - Pension, 401k, or Roth IRA retirement options - Reasonable (but not great) healthcare. Employee share of the monthly premium (around $100-$200 per family) is low, but out of pocket costs can easily be $1500. The provider is a big national one, but slow to pay claims and slow to respond to inquiries. - “PC” benefits: Same sex/Domestic partner benefits, adoption, short-term disability (at 80%), relocation expenses, etc. - Stability. It’s a public utility with a captive consumer base. Unless a bigger fish buys it, Laclede isn’t going anywhere.

Cons

The org chart is in constant flux. Turnover rate is near 100% is some areas (e.g. Finance), resulting in zero institutional knowledge. Why are people leaving? - Long hours with no work-life balance. M&A is great, but integration teams lean on the same people again & again, with limited backfill. The result is talented employees who are basically worked into the ground (80+ hour weeks are the norm during several months of integration, with the expectation that work will continue through weekends & major holidays). - Pay. Laclede uses a large number of external consultants, many of whom are paid 3-5 times what employees make, to do the same job. - Annual bonus pay doesn’t even begin to compensate for all those extra hours. If you worked 1,000 additional hours, a $10,000 bonus means you made a whopping $10/hr for those overtime hours. McDonalds pays better than that. - There is no succession grooming or development of “next in line.” Most managers and directors are hired from outside the company. Employees with decades of experience are often passed over. - So there’s no reason for employees to stay beyond a few years. They get some experience, more training, and then move on to higher pay & more reasonable hours. The facilities are abysmal. Laclede just can’t seem to get into today’s modern workplace. Laclede is getting ready to move to 700 Market, so let’s hope things improve there, compared to 720 Olive Street where: - The break rooms are cluttered and non-functional. Many floors lack the basics – a sink for washing dishes (employees on 8th floor use the bathroom sinks), access to filtered water, a freezer, ice machine, etc. The only nice break room is on the first floor. - Because the break rooms aren’t friendly and the hours are long, most people eat at their desk (there is no real “lunch” hour) or eat in meetings - “Open Concept” plans are used on some floors, and while there’s some value, there’s more bad than good: zero privacy and not enough conference rooms result in employees standing in hallways to make phone calls, discuss business, etc. Small annoyances abound – the shared coat rack means your coat now smells like smoke and has cat hair stuck to it, you get to enjoy your 6 neighbors and their smelly tuna, music, perfume, even singing… - No health room. Unlike other major employers, Laclede does not have a designated room for lactating employees, for blood sugar checks, lying down with a migraine, etc. Employees can tough it out or go home (basically losing an entire day of productivity). - Clutter (such as rolling file cabinets) in isles and walkways results in employee collisions (literally) and lots of coffee/food spills. HR is fully staffed, and yet completely unresponsive. The Director doesn’t answer any e-mails, and her subordinates play phone tag, bouncing you from one voice mailbox to the next.

Pros

Guaranteed 40 hrs per week. Great pay and benefits. Company reimbursement on various things including work boots and gym membership. Union job

Cons

The negations with the company and the union has been and will continue to go downhill. Loosing more benefits, sick time, holidays, ect. Some management is very disrespectful to employees

Pros

This is a one star company. Don't let the fake five star reviews that push the average up to 2.x stars fool you into "trying them out". The only pro I know of is, if you are a worker for the union (construction), you will have decent enough benefits and pay to offset the mismanagement and maltreatment from the company to sustain you until you can find a better company to work for. This is exactly what I did. Went to night school, got a better degree, and promptly left this company upon graduation. Now I work for a company that actually treats their employees like human beings and not legal obligations.

Cons

Bad management, low pay, combative environment, no room for positive advancement (although people do get feed up and quit often so that will open positions you probably wouldn't want to move into), This company holds a monopoly in their industry so they have no motivation to do the right thing. If it makes them more $$$ they'll do it no matter how bad it screws over customers and employees.

Pros

(formerly, pre-2012) good pay, some good co-workers, real close to public transportation

Cons

Where to start? Constant job eliminations, constant ways to lower employee pay, so much mandatory overtime that you couldn't have a life outside of work, most of the employees are disgruntled due to feeling worthless, presently (as of Nov 2015) eliminating many longtime management positions. This was such a good company when Yaeger ran it but as soon as Suzanne took over it's turned into complete garbage. I wouldn't recommend anyone work here. In 2008 & earlier working here would have been fine but after 2012/2013 & so forth there are far better companies to work for who actually care about their employees. This isn't coming from someone who was fired....I literally quit after searching for a new job for a good 6mos because life in this place was a complete nightmare. DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT work here under any circumstances. You have been warned.

Pros

The insurance is pretty standard. There no chance for personal growth. Most of of the supervisors got their position from sleeping with their boss or another higher. Typically most minority with a degree dont have a chance in hell to move up. Most all all the supervisor are white without a degree. There's no such thing as work life balance. You're basically slaves. I couldnt get time off for my uncle or aunts funeral even when I requested it without pay.

Cons

The pay is good but the company dont va lo ue you at all. The pretends there's an open door policy only when cameras are around.

Pros

The pros for working at Laclede Gas was the work environment with my co-workers, management and the support that everyone provided.

Cons

The only con that I have for Laclede Gas is that I was not able to retire from a great company and a even better group of Co-Workers

Pros

New office, clean and centrally located in a nice location for downtown St Louis. Many nice people used to work there.

Cons

Focus has shifted from safety to profit and growth. Laclede no longer appreciates the knowledge and skills of its employees. Work is being moved to outsource agencies in other states. Compensation and benefits are being reduced to improve bottom line. Mandatory overtime eliminates work/life balance. Quality and customer service are lip service. Customers are outraged.