Calpine reviews

4.0

82% would recommend to a friend

(445 total reviews)

Andrew Novotny/Thad Hill

91% approve of CEO

75% positive business outlook

Calpine has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 445 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Calpine 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

445 reviews
1.0
Jan 3, 2018

Dying Company...Not What it Once Was...

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people you work with. The challenges you'll face trying to meet project goals.

Cons

They did several rounds of layoff's in an 18 month period in order to make their bottom-line more attractive for potential sale. While that's not unheard of, it still stings a bit when cuts are made not with a mindset of "Let's look at value added by each individual" but instead is done with a mindset of "So who's getting paid the most in this role? Ok, let's cut them!" They brought in "efficiency" consultants, and that's when everyone should have seen the writing on the wall. Unfortunately, most didn't and it left many good people in the lurch.

1.0
Sep 3, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

pay is adequate for Jobs. benefits are good.

Cons

You will not be valued as an employee. The most important thing for the company is not its people but how much the executives get paid; this is evident with their policies, lack of attention to personal growth, and the constant decrease in benefits. Your raise each year will not compete with inflation. Despite being a 0-5 scale everyone is confined to 1-3 rating each year to ensure that everyone thinks they are not stellar and everyone is average.your work life balance will be poor and you will start to hate your job. HR's sole purpose is protect the poorly trained middle management from lawsuits and getting fired. HR will not help you as non-manager. They do not care about your growth because they will not go above and beyond to help you. Managers will tell you that talent is bought and not developed thus making you feel stuck. This company just expects you to listen and work. If you come up with a good idea it is considered to just be part of your job but if you make mistakes you will be held to an unreasonable high standard.

1.0
Jun 21, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good people, good health and other benefits.

Cons

In 10 years we have only been fully staffed for maybe 15 months at this site. Even what they consider "fully staffed" is still fewer people than what other generating companies have. We are forever one event away from not even being able to cover all the shifts. This has caused a decline in moral, work/life balance, and all around satisfaction for the majority of the operations staff in the region. Being forever shorthanded has lead to so many extra shifts that it has masked the massive disparity between pay and cost of living in the area. Housing costs have almost doubled in my time here while my actual takehome pay, per my W-2, has only increased by 1%!!!! We all drive an hour to get to work because we can't afford to live closer, and now even those locations, 50+ miles away, are out of reach for new employees. The company preaches safety, but the reality is that it only matters if something happens that is recordable. Safety when convenient or not too expensive is a common theme here. They do lots of lip service and window dressing with safety news letters and safety commitees, but the reality is they do nothing to improve the day to day safety of the plants. I could continue and write a whole book on the shortcomings but I think this gets the point across.

Viewing 13 - 15 of 445 Reviews

Glassdoor has 523 Calpine reviews submitted anonymously by Calpine employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Calpine is right for you.