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Bonneville Power

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Bonneville Power reviews

3.9

82% would recommend to a friend

(174 total reviews)

Elliot Mainzer

89% approve of CEO

79% positive business outlook

Bonneville Power has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 174 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Bonneville Power employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Energy, Mining & Utilities industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

174 reviews
4.0
Jun 14, 2012

Good place to work, unpublished policies

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Bonneville Power is a part Federal, part Private organization that runs a significant part of the NW power system. As such, it pays "prevailing wage" to contractors and treats their contractors and employees fairly well with benefits, work conditions and opportunities. You have a good probability of working with people that have good backgrounds and are nice to work with, as all employees/contactors are required to have a clear National Agency Clearance Investigation to work there.

Cons

There are lots of "unpublished" policies that can get you fired, for any reason at all, including (if you are a contractor) if someone complains about you for any reason. Two departments near me had people terminated. One for reason (bad attitude), one for no reason that anyone could figure out as he was one of the best people on the team (qualifications and personality). Topping the problem is that no one will tell you what the person had done (even in the most general terms) so that you could avoid the issue as well. This isn't a pro or a con, it just is: if you are into the latest and greatest current technology, this is not the place for you, as they are required to be very diligent about ensuring that ALL systems work with any new technology deployed, whether it is a new type of phone, computer or transmission method.

2.0
Apr 12, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They manage the power grid and do those core functions very well. In IT, the work is not that technically challenging, in general, but the business problems are often interesting and solving them can be rewarding. People here balance work and life as a matter of course. There is a nice fitness center on site.

Cons

It is often bureaucratic and siloed, meaning that the enterprise is fragmented into different business areas that -- in some cases -- rarely talk to each other.

2.0
Mar 26, 2012

Yet Another Contractor

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Except for a few bad apples, other contractors are great to work with. There are a few, and I stress "few", full timers that care about their jobs. - A huge amount of work for people - there is always something broke. - Due to all of the systems, there is always something to learn on or play with. ....uh, yea, that's about it. This review is going to be long...

Cons

- SOME of the full timers (aka: FTE's) are competent, but the majority should be tossed out. - Management is just useless at BPA. I could list all kinds of reasons, but please trust me that management here is terrible. They refuse to allow good things to happen due to multiple points that could span a book. Most major projects (like upgrading desktops) fail, then are renamed, fail again, renamed - see a pattern here? That was a real example... - The contracting companies control all aspects of life for a contractor. BPA is not allowed to provide feedback, most pay a crappy amount of the actual contract amount (negotiate VERY hard for a rate) and most of the companies are "body farms". Use Glassdoor for the company you're working with and ensure to use ALL their names to locate all the reviews on them. - Some groups go out of their way to make life miserable for everyone, including the janitors. It seems that groups that are almost completely FTE's seem to have this issue. This can be everything from people complaining about stupid stuff to "Shh people working here" signs ALL OVER the place. - LAYOFFS - That's right folks, a government agency is laying contractors off left and right while the President claims things are getting better. Yet another failed DOE "investment". If you're not working on a project that is not O&M, be afraid for your job. - Too much work. As another contractor pointed out, there are more IT depts than there should be, about 300 more IT employees than there should be and nearly 1 server (VM and Physical) per employee at this place. Again - always something broke, which you will no doubt re-fix again later. - Small cubes where you can touch both walls at the same time. - The FTE's are walled in with Unions and extra rules and regs. As a contractor, you have absolutely no rights. - 2 IT directors because things are so bad, people are worried (and partially because the current one was seen packing his office up). - I hope you like silo's because we're all walled off and there are turf wars over whom does what on each type of server. - 3 internal business units run this one company. Transmission, Power and Energy Efficiency are all depts that act like spoiled brats when they want something. Having all the money, everyone bends over backwards to make those groups happy. All do what they want, when they want, to include going outside the company for the same services that are provided internally.

Viewing 163 - 165 of 174 Reviews

Glassdoor has 225 Bonneville Power reviews submitted anonymously by Bonneville Power employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Bonneville Power is right for you.