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SolarCity

Acquired by Tesla

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SolarCity reviews

3.5

61% would recommend to a friend

(2,336 total reviews)
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Lyndon Rive

84% approve of CEO

56% positive business outlook

SolarCity has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 2,336 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The SolarCity 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

2K reviews
1.0
Feb 18, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The medical, dental, vision and other company benefits are very good. Benefits kick in after only thirty days which is awesome.

Cons

Low pay, commission levels are very low. Also if you leave the company for any reason you lose all of your pending commissions. Working seven days a week with no days off. The policies and rules are always changing and no one knows what is going on. Very poor communication. Corrupt sales people who will do whatever it takes to make the sale. Upper management turns a blind eye to employees who break company policy or who are involved in corrupt practices as long as they are meeting their sales quota. Sales leads are not distributed evenly, so new employees are at a serious disadvantage to their peers. Super high turn over rate here. No one I worked with has been with the company for more than two years.

1.0
Dec 20, 2014

Run away! SolarCity is a horrible employer.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The best reason to work here was to understand why it was so important to leave that culture as soon as possible.

Cons

Upper management holds contests for employees to post positive reviews to Glassdoor in exchange for the opportunity to win a prize (i.e. iPad). Why else do you think you see so many positive reviews? This is the worst company I've ever worked for. Departments are created and then disbanded frequently. There is no company-wide communication, so it's difficult to know what procedures have been changed overnight (literally). Customer service is awful, in part because the employees are left in the dark about what's going on. How are they supposed to then help a customer? They can't. Lay offs are common, especially to push out employees that are individual thinkers. SolarCity is more like a cult than anything else. If you show signs that you don't 100% buy into the cult mentality, they will find a way to get rid of you. Upper management is a good old boys club and they love to waste money - unnecessary travel, lavish dinners, leasing Teslas for their favorite employees, etc. There's no stability, no sense of employee worth, and a culture of "do what I say, not what I do". In 2 years, my supervisor changed 8 times and my position was changed 6 times. This company make it very clear what I will not tolerate from an employer. I'm a successful and ethical employee, not a piece of garbage. The biggest take away from my review - Do not work here. It may sound attractive, but it's just to rope you in and then it all changes once you're officially an employee.

2.0
Oct 31, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Employee benefits are very good. You're provided top-notch health and dental insurance, disability pay and life insurance, and you're given the standard two weeks vacation. The people, specifically the entry-level folks, are also great. Aside from the competitiveness and politics (i.e. "rat race"), SolarCity's staff are made up of good people who seek to make a positive impact in their work.

Cons

First, take most of these reviews with a grain of salt. Much of these reviews are inflated by internal staff to increase SolarCity's rating on Glassdoor. This has to due with the company's aggressive hiring and HR tactics to encourage people to apply. You will be able to sense the real from the fake reviews. Second, each experience is unique and dependent on which department you work in and at what level you enter the company. With that said, here was my experience. SolarCity has set up a assembly-line approach to the way it operates, so you can expect your position to be very repetitive. There is very little room to challenge the way things are done here. You will be micromanaged and constantly under pressure to perform. You will be left in the dark on where things are going and on issues that directly impact your work. You will rarely be invited to meetings and brought into the discussion on how to improve things. You will be expected to "just do your work" and not complain. Further, people are constantly in fear of their job security. Only time will tell what happens when the federal tax credits for solar expire at the end of 2016... The pay is below market rate, so you'll be scraping to save money and simply get by in the Bay area. This however is not the case for top-level management, who are receiving millions in stock options and compensation. There is heavy emphasis on growth and sales, so quality has gone out the window. There is very little reward here for providing great customer service. Look up customer reviews on Yelp, BBB and other sites and you'll see what the customer experience has become. Overall, the people and benefits are good, but SolarCity's management style is stifling and demotivating, and needs to change for the good of the company and the service it provides.

Viewing 82 - 84 of 2,336 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,374 SolarCity reviews submitted anonymously by SolarCity employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if SolarCity is right for you.