There is a ton of dead weight throughout the organization. DTE tries to treat their employees right through engagement initiatives but is so caught up in "Gallup" results they miss out on many other things that kill morale. The parking garage at the downtown Detroit office is a nightmare at times. You get the bad parts of being downtown (traffic), but not the benefit since it's quite a walk (or even a drive) to anything decent.
The red tape and bureaucracy are like no other place I've seen. It's amazing that anything gets done. The amount of middle management at DTE is remarkable. It's a common theme of people consistently trying to "pass the buck" and not take accountability or ownership for anything. Trying to get projects pushed through that require you to coordinate with any outside support groups is a nightmare. There's no focus on growing the business as DTE's revenues are secured through rate payers and capital investment, which results in only focusing on operations instead of growing the business. The CI initiatives are good in theory, but in reality, they just add to the plethora of red tape and hoops you need to jump through.
Vacation time coming in is a joke: only 10 days to start. You do get about 20 or 25 sick days, but if you don't use them, what's the benefit. HR is a nightmare to work with. Get your money on the way in! For internal promotions you can only get a certain percentage raise even if you jump a level.