Pros
Union side cares for each other and the customer. Union wages are competitive, meeting or exceeding industry standards depending on the position. The company maintains a strong safety record, with a culture where workers feel empowered to stop work if safety concerns arise. Equipment and tools are well-maintained, with quick repairs or replacements as needed. Although morale has been impacted by management, camaraderie in the field remains high. Workers consistently support one another, help with maintaining work-life balance, and have strong worth ethic.
Cons
Reorganizations happen every 2-3 years. If you want to constantly worry about job security, an office job at Alliant Energy might be the place for you. Engineering pay is not competitive. We invest time and money to train engineers to Levels 1 & 2, only for them to leave after 3 years for better pay and senior positions elsewhere (and honestly, who can blame them?). Now we’re even paying the same engineers more as contractors at Ulteig. But since contractor costs are a capital expense, it looks better on the books. HR is disorganized, and the interview process is confusing. Interviewees often get automated calls about interviews, but many phones flag these as spam and the robocall doesn't leave a voicemail. As a result, I often have to follow up with candidates myself, since HR won’t do it. It also took three months just to update the job descriptions before we could post positions. The core issue, though, is the company’s values. Investors always come first. Leadership, from the director level up, seems to care more about financials than the ratepayers or employees. The focus is on keeping a clean operations and safety record, securing government grants, and building projects funded by those grants. Unfortunately, this often leads to increased O&M costs, which are then passed on to the ratepayers. But who cares, investors are happy right? Management has been in steady decline. About five years ago, the decision was made that managers no longer need technical expertise. As a result, we’re left without engineers because we won’t pay them competitive wages. Managers lack understanding of technical issues, so the burden falls on the field to handle all the engineering work. This is a recipe for long-term disaster. Leadership has also lost touch with employees. Vacation benefits were cut, with the justification that they were "too good" and now align more with what ratepayers receive, making it "fairer for the rate payer" Instead of setting a standard for a healthy work-life balance, they’ve lowered it. The cuts were made to avoid paying out unused vacation when severance packages were given to laid-off employees. Lastly, the company swung heavily in favor of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, to the point that if you were a white male, it was nearly impossible to land a management, director, or VP position. Leadership was very transparent about the diversity numbers they aimed to hit.
