Puget Sound Energy reviews

3.7

62% would recommend to a friend

(494 total reviews)
avatar

Mary Kipp

52% approve of CEO

54% positive business outlook

Puget Sound Energy has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 494 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Puget Sound Energy 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

494 reviews
1.0
Sep 5, 2024

Leadership Out of Touch, but Great People Keep the Wheels Turning

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are many dedicated and passionate employees at Puget Sound Energy who truly believe in the company's mission to transition to a sustainable future. These individuals work hard to support each other and keep the company moving forward despite the many challenges they face. The team spirit among peers and the commitment to doing meaningful work are the standout positives in an otherwise tough environment.

Cons

Working here can be extremely frustrating, especially as a people leader on the lower rungs of leadership. Executive leadership fails to communicate effectively, and directors and VPs often make decisions without consulting subject matter experts, resulting in poorly planned initiatives with constantly shifting priorities. As a people leader, you're often left cleaning up the messes when your team comes to you with questions, and you have no answers because executives rolled out some ill-conceived policy or initiative. A severe budget shortfall caused by executive decisions has resulted in hiring freezes and vacancies, which further strain the team. Leadership’s response to employee concerns has been dismissive, often telling us to be grateful we have jobs. The addition of new holidays does little to alleviate the stress, as the workload remains the same but must now be completed in fewer days. The culture is fear-driven, with several new executives fostering this toxic environment, but one new VP, in particular, has made things worse. Her leadership style has directors scrambling to be "yes-people," afraid to challenge her unrealistic expectations or push back in any meaningful way. It doesn’t help that many new directors and managers lack any meaningful leadership skills, have maneuvered their way to the top without true qualifications or experience, or are afraid to respectfully push back — likely because they’ve seen their peers let go for speaking up. The executive team seems to believe that the lack of collaboration is due to people working remotely more often, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Coming into the office doesn't equate to more collaboration. I walk around the office when I’m there and see a bunch of people on Teams meetings with colleagues at other locations. A 50% return-to-office mandate doesn’t solve this problem. Living up to our values would improve morale and increase collaboration. Leadership should mirror these values of "We all have a voice, We do what's right, and We have each other's back." Unfortunately, I’ve seen far too many times where a large portion of the company doesn't hold to those values. Frequent layoffs, particularly in IT, have added to the instability, with offshored resources often unprepared to handle their roles. The result is resentment, poor attitudes, and a lack of collaboration across teams.

2.0
Oct 30, 2023

Stay away

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Chance to make a difference, learn about green technology, good benefits

Cons

New leadership is severely lacking. Too many new executives. Policy changes without warning accompanied by corporate gaslighting. No trust in executive leadership.

1.0
Oct 25, 2013

Highly dysfunctional work environment.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The customer facing employees at PSE are some of the most wonderful people that you will ever meet. They are hard working and they have a vision for their work. there is an overall feeling of pride, as a result of providing a service to the public.

Cons

Employees, more often than not, are not respected, listened to, or cared about at PSE. Furthermore, there is an overwhelming presence of fear in the PSE workplace, due to employees not feeling stable at their jobs. As an FTE at PSE, I've worked and developed work 'friendships' with employees in most departments. In this respect, I've been witness to multiple reports of dept managers and supervisors resorting to bullying management tactics with their employees during normal daily work times. I've witnessed and have experienced the utter terror that endures when one is constantly aware that they can lose their jobs at any minute, due to an untrained and unlearned manager's whims, The great majority of employees at PSE are acutely aware of this (and they are terrified) that their employment could end at any minute. This type of awareness promotes an environment of social paranoia. An environment that causes employees to view other employees as probable threats to their continuing existence. It has caused an environment at PSE where each person keeps a leash on their tongues in distrust, when dialoguing with other employees. This is in great part to management not being structural or professional. It is also due to employees being encouraged by management to gossip about other employees. I have personally witnessed on multiple occasions, management willingly participating in these gossip sessions. I've also witnessed management responding to these gossip sessions by penalizing, in one way or another, the employee who has been gossipped about. I'm embarrassed to say that I worked for an enployer that allows such unprofessionalism. Employees at PSE are completely powerless to advocate for themselves. There are multiple cases of management abuse cases reported to HR by employees. Unfortunately for the employee. HR is very adept at lip service. The PSE employee knows or soon finds out that in the end, the employee circumstances are not considered or listened to by HR. It is the manager .. whether they are utilizing abusive tactics or not .. who is always backed up and supported in any PSE HR process. Also, when HR has been informed the manager has been unprofessional, there are no training plans that are embarked on. Which leaves that manager to their own devices.. as it was before the complaint. This type of common work practice at PSE makes it absolutely evident that PSE management does not have the time to be concerned about their employees. Lower level management; ie, supervisors, etc. provide no direction to staff members whatsoever. The PSE departmental employee is left to their own devices to learn and master the job without training of any structural type. (Of course this isn't true for the trade vocations, ie; lineman, etc). Many times, I've witnessed supervisors employing their staff members to create and gather staff data for management reports. These reports consist of individual peer performance issues. To allow peer team members to pull this data is unprofessional management practice. This type of practice causes seperations between and within the staff, which in turn, results in low work performance and a toxic workplace environment. This is a direct confirmation that upper and lower level management are not receiving leadership training. The fact is, upper management leaves too much responsibility for the employees worklives in the hands of lower level management, who have NO leadership or management training. HR performs workplace surveys with outside agencies to determine what their work environment is.. but changes are never made to the work environment. Employees view these surveys as a waste of their work time.. nothing ever changes.. dysfunction still runs rampant. Management and HR at PSE uses the At Will status of our state to fire employees. And they do practice on a continuing basis, firing their employees without notice and at HR and management's own whim. As well as without explanation. HR supports managers who fire their employees in this manner. HR provides no support for the employee. All in all. PSE is one of the worse employers in the Puget Sound region. You would be better off working anywhere else. Also, Beware, if they don't care about those that they employ.. how much can we rely on them to care about the energy situation in the Puget Sound. Think about it.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 494 Reviews

Glassdoor has 544 Puget Sound Energy reviews submitted anonymously by Puget Sound Energy employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Puget Sound Energy is right for you.