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