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    Los Angeles Water and Power Reviews

    Updated March 21, 2019
    73 reviews

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    3.9
    StarStarStarStarStar
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    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
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    S. David Freeman
    22 Ratings

    Employee Reviews

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    Pros

    • "benefits, job security and good movement due to upcoming retirements" (in 11 reviews)

    • "Great benefits with opportunity for growth" (in 9 reviews)

    Cons

    • "the civil service system, make hiring and promotions difficult and frustrating" (in 5 reviews)

    • "The red tape to get work done is ridiculous" (in 4 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "Student Engineer"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Student Engineer in Los Angeles, CA
      Former Employee - Student Engineer in Los Angeles, CA
      Recommends
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at Los Angeles Water and Power part-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Worked in a very professional environment that pushed me to further my skills and knowledge of power systems.

      Cons

      None at all! I believe this is the utility where I would want to work at in the near future.

      Advice to Management

      Keep doing a good job

    2. Helpful (1)

      "An Engineering Municipal Utility"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Engineer in Los Angeles, CA
      Former Employee - Engineer in Los Angeles, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Los Angeles Water and Power full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      There are few utilities , particularly municipal, that have any engineering staff. This is one of those rare exceptions.

      Plenty of variety for engineers to be involved in, from policy to planning to design to construction to operations. Lots of work to get involved in, but you may have to seek it out.

      Benefits are very good. Stick with it for 30 years and the retirement plan is a great benefit.

      Cons

      It is a municipal utility. City of LA Personnel Dept., the civil service system, make hiring and promotions difficult and frustrating. Your achievements may or may not be recognized when you think you should be promoted. You will need to have a great deal of patience and fortitude to deal with the bureaucracy and the politics of City Hall.

      You will need to start at an entry level position and it will take time to move up through the organization.

      You will be part of a labor union and the union tends to worry more about the blue collar ranks than the white collar ranks. Also, the Union tends to drive what gets done and how it gets done, more than the areas within the City of LA.

      3. Join the Los Angeles Water and Power team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. Helpful (2)

      "Water System Engineer - Public Service: You Get What You Put in at LADWP (4.5 stars)"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Engineering Associate in Los Angeles, CA
      Current Employee - Engineering Associate in Los Angeles, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Los Angeles Water and Power full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      The obvious pros are: 1) high starting pay/retirement rate/COLA raises 2) tuition reimbursement 3) great benefits 3) and strong job security. Even though DWP is a huge company, there is still massive room for innovation. This can be a benefit because if you are ambitious, you can make huge improvements for the department. There really isn't a limit to what you can accomplish here; there are limits on how quickly you can get this done though (red tape, lowest bidder system for procurement, lots of paperwork, and unfirm deadlines). The slower pace does allow you to work through problems and learn the details if you chose to work hard. Depending on your group, you have guaranteed overtime which can boost an already above average salary. It also feels good to know we are working to build a strong and sustainable water system for LA. We need more strong-willed and ambitious workers here because there is so much work to get done.

      Cons

      Like I said above, it can be frustratingly slow when you want to get things done (order something, set up training, go on trips, get approval for the many things that require approvals). You will also find that some people can gossip a lot and not care much about work. This subculture at DWP is by far (in my opinion) the worst part about the job. It is disheartening to see people not appreciate the comforts and stability that this job provides. You do not need to be or affiliate with those people. Another loss is that you will not have the modernized office space (coffee, snacks, late start times, etc.) but you gain much of what those modern workplaces do not have (pension, great benefits, security, 40hr work week). Finally, you start off getting large raises every year but then you flatline after several years. This is really not an issue because you flatline at still a higher than average market salary with a pension (~130k baseline).

      Advice to Management

      Keep a positive attitude and stand up to the culture of complacency. We need leaders who will set a good example and keep people inspired. Don't lose sight of the importance of an inspired workforce.

    4. Helpful (1)

      "Management Analyst DWP"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Management Analyst in Los Angeles, CA
      Current Employee - Management Analyst in Los Angeles, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Los Angeles Water and Power full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      The benefits packages, compensation, days off, and promotional opportunities are unbeatable among Utility Companies and other government agencies. In the current system you can retire at 55 years old with a pension for life.

      Cons

      The workforce is old, the work is tedious and uninteresting, and the skill set from work will only prepare you to work for DWP. If you can get past the tedium, and the seemingly pointless processes then the job is excellent where it matters (pay and benefits).

      Advice to Management

      Continue to modernize the work environment to appeal to new employees. Avoid creating more needless processes or bureaucratic layers to the system. The Civil Service System already slows things down and makes work a hassle.

    5. "leading power company"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Los Angeles Water and Power full-time

      Pros

      stability, intresting projects, great co-workers

      Cons

      no consistency, no support

      Advice to Management

      provide training to managers, support your workers

    6. "Electrical Engineering Associate"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at Los Angeles Water and Power full-time

      Pros

      Excellent projects, great work-life balance. A lot of change. Big budget projects. A lot of opportunities to move

      Cons

      Slow to pivot. Many processes to follow.

      Advice to Management

      Allow creative ideas. Improve approval process

    7. Helpful (1)

      "Neat Engineer"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Mechanical Engineering Associate in Los Angeles, CA
      Current Employee - Mechanical Engineering Associate in Los Angeles, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Los Angeles Water and Power full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      The new hire rotation program allows you to see a lot of the company.
      Benefits are great and the pay is good.

      Cons

      It's what you think of when you think government job.

      Advice to Management

      A good manager needs to a basic understanding of their group's work and deep understand of the group's people.

    8. "Sr. Engineer"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in Los Angeles, CA
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in Los Angeles, CA

      I worked at Los Angeles Water and Power full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Great time and place to work if you want to help clean the power system and help customers make cleaner energy choices. The new corporate strategy is inspired and is a daily reminder of how important the work is. The work-life balance is hard to beat.

      Cons

      There are some cultural pockets of complacence; but this can be avoided if you stay focused on the importance of the work. Employees often seek promotions through interviewing for new jobs within the company, since in-line promotions are all too infrequent.

      Advice to Management

      Continue working hard to develop & integrate new technology into the mix to make power distribution more affordable and greener.

    9. Helpful (7)

      "High pay, but terrible work culture"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at Los Angeles Water and Power full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      Great pay and benefits. There is a enticing pension plan that will keep an employee thinking twice if they wanted to leave. Some groups have fantastic projects that will keep you interested.

      Cons

      The red tape to get work done is ridiculous. You spend more hours with administrative tasks trying to approve something that costs less than the labor itself. The cronyism and favoritism is terrible and creates a low morale among the hard working honest employees. This corrupt office culture rewards the incompetent and lazy, while overlooking the multiple good employees and the damage this practice creates. There's a strong culture of fear that prevents the employees from speaking out against idiotic management decisions and corrupt promotions. Multiple complaints to the IBEW union about this corruption get ignored.

      Advice to Management

      All promotions need to be merit based and transparent. Tape record the interviews so there's evidence when promotions are justifiably questioned. Your good employees see the cronyism and favoritism and it discourages all of them from caring about their job. Ignoring your good employees turns them into the stereotypical government employees.

    10. Helpful (5)

      "Administrative clerk"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at Los Angeles Water and Power full-time

      Pros

      Excellent health benefits
      Great retirement plan and insurance
      Good opportunities to purchase life insurance and disability insurance
      Opportunity to grow

      Cons

      6 months probation
      Restricted schedule