SSE reviews

3.7

72% would recommend to a friend

(1,461 total reviews)
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Martin Pibworth

53% approve of CEO

63% positive business outlook

SSE has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 1,461 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The SSE 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

1K reviews
1.0
Sep 16, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are a lot of great people working here and a positive culture for Customer Service.

Cons

Management and HR standards are abysmal. There is a lot of promoting from within - low skills perpetuating yet more low skills. There is a serious lack of professionalism or quality controls. Poor workload management and huge amounts of money wasted due to lack of efficiency and bizarrely run projects. If you are a competent professional you will struggle to fit in.

1.0
Sep 29, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very good remuneration Nice offices in Reading None other than above- just having to meet minimum word criteria for the pros

Cons

Lack of diversity in the company. To get promoted you need to have the right face and know the right people. Take a look at the make up of the Exec board. Majority are waiting to sit there comfortably for a few more years and take their fat pensions. To progress in the company you HAVE to wear a 3pc suit to the office (ideally blue suit and brown shoes). Too many cooks- to get a simple yes/no decision can take months and has to be passed up the chain to be reviewed by a minimum of 5-6 others who don't have a clue anyway. No ideas/strategy- still trying to figure out how to rip off existing vulnerable customer base rather than focusing on innovation, new services and products. Tenure rather than hard work and delivery is valued more. You are actually better off sitting there and doing nothing for few years and you'll be guaranteed to get promoted. If you bring forward new ideas you are bullied. Most of the senior teams have been here an average of 10-15 years each; they have no idea what's happening in the external world and so it's impossible for them to take risks and change/accept new ideas. All of management is unapproachable and they think they are running Google. They need to get some proper training from modern leaders. Safety taken to another level. In fact you get lectured on what you should not be doing in your own time at home. You could lose your job if thy find out you're in to extreme sports. Lack of empowerment- not only is your work uncredited it's also useless. Huge number of PowerPoint presentations which never get used. Heavily process driven with no actual output.

1.0
Sep 10, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are some good people working there who are very supportive and just want to go a good job. Benefits are ok but other companies offer similar.

Cons

My office (Portsmouth) is very overcrowded, the management just seem to keep adding new desks. This means it's hard to park, find a free toilet, huge queues in the canteen, and the Air con cant cope in the summer. The whole company has a bullying culture where if you don't make their targets you get a poor performance report. Some of the targets are impossible. It still has an "Old Boy Network" where if your face fits you'll do well in the company.

Viewing 28 - 30 of 1,461 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,615 SSE reviews submitted anonymously by SSE employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if SSE is right for you.