FirstEnergy reviews

No progression, monopolistic take it or leave it culture

I worked for one of FirstEnergy's nuclear generating stations for over six years. While I am grateful for my experience, after being gone for over three years and switching to a completely different industry I can confidently say that I would not recommend working here. First, get ready for loads of bureaucracy. You have to jump through hoops upon hoops to get anything done. Money is scarce. Management is top heavy. New ideas are not considered nor even encouraged. The industry has failed to innovate in the last 40 years. Heavy regulations have squashed any room for it. Unless the problem will shut down the plant, good luck getting money to fix it. I saw the writing on the wall the last few years I was there, which is why I jumped ship. A little over a year after I leave FE announces they are shutting down all their nuclear plants. Surprise surprise. When I was there it was a toxic work environment. No one seemed to like their job. You are treated like a number and expected to comply with any and all directives from upper management. Get ready for 72 hour work weeks during refueling outages and getting called in on your off days to deal with urgent issues. The unions make things worse. It's nearly impossible to get anything done as most (not all) of the union workers are lazy. However, if you try to take initiative to get things done, the union is there waiting to file a grievance on you. I once had a Reactor Operator have a meltdown on me while he was on shift in the control room. Yes, you read that right - this happened while he was supposed to be operating a nuclear reactor. When I went to HR about it, it got swept under the rug as they didn't want to disturb the union. There is no room for advancement beyond supervisor level unless you want to obtain your Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) license, which entails multiple years of shift work in the control room.