Good benefits and people, but diminishing work life balance - Engineer SM Energy Employee Review

This is one of the best companies I've worked for. They are growth and leadership minded. Feels like the Leadership team really care about their people.

None I enjoy working here.

Denver office is probably the biggest perk, great alternative to most geoscience work that is located in Houston. 9/80 schedule, bonuses (cash and long term), ESPP, interesting work, large training budget, (mostly) friendly coworkers. Very much a science oriented company so you get to do a ton of geoscience work that positively contributes to the org. Gender diversity is great, many women in leadership positions which is a plus.

Management has had a recent shake up and a lot of the recent executive decisions are questionable at best. Travel is limited and you only really get to go to Midland or Houston unless there’s a conference some place fun. Expense policy is a bit strict. They had what seemed to be a great new grad rotation program called Compass but over the years have forced multiple high performing and well liked recent Compass graduates out either through layoffs or other means. I no longer recommend early career professionals to apply for this program as such. It is also quite tribal and cliquey, if you aren’t an alma mater from a specific school or aren’t very outdoorsy you’ll be in the “out” group and will face limited career advancement opportunities and be at the top of the chopping block if and when layoffs come.