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Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories

Is this your company?

Run fast, run far! - Anonymous employee Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Employee Review

2.0
Jun 28, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are some nice benefits, such as the health center and the employee stock program. Also, you will work with some very nice, wonderful people.

Cons

There are so many reasons to not work at SEL. First of all, don't believe the hype about the values--employees are the only ones who try to live by them. To management, you are a replaceable part and a number. It doesn't matter how hard you work or how loyal you are to the company--they are willing to fire you at any time if you get on the wrong person's bad side. In many departments, it is a culture of fear, where people keep quiet in fear that if they say something, they will be let go. Overtime is pretty much expected, especially with salaried employees. The vacation time and sick leave are stingy. I could go on and on, but in short, if I knew what I know about SEL today when I was looking at the job, I would not take it.

Explore other reviews about Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories

5.0
Jul 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Plenty of friendly faces to work with.

Cons

Reluctant to hire certain places sometimes.

4.0
Apr 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Right job for some people. If you buy into the koolaid and are passionate about the power industry this can be an incredible job for you. The benefits are pretty great. I really enjoyed my coworkers, all of them feel human and are earnest. You can live quite cheaply in Pullman. There is an incredible amount of job security. SEL boasts they've never done a layoff. Additionally their ESOP distribution is generous - though it takes 6 years to fully vest. There is a lot of things I really admire about the company and the culture.

Cons

Comp is lower side. A lot of people are hired out of college and have only ever worked at SEL so sometimes I feel like there is a bit of an echo chamber. Small town. I really struggled with the initial allocation of 12 days PTO. 17 after 2 years is much easier. As a SWE, the company feels very catered to their power engineers. Company is very traditional in its values, people wear suits to work. Seems like the timeline for promotion is quite slow for SWE compared to other companies. I see a lot of friction when lower level engineers trying to advocate for changes; though I do think that the conversations with leadership happen in good faith.

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