An Honest Review of W Energy - Consultant W Energy Software Employee Review

This is a mess of a company. First, there seems to be a disconnect between the CEO and the message being broadcasted out by managers, directors, and VPs. Countless times in 2021, management would get on an "all-hands" call with the employees and say (paraphrasing), "Hey, everything is great! Keep up the great work! Yay to you!", only to have the CEO chime in a few minutes later and say, "Hey, things aren't that great. We're not making money, so watch the spending. We might be in trouble." I find this all very amusing considering the CEO had enough money to put in a pool and waterslide at his mansion in Tulsa last summer...but I digress. In addition to the obvious disconnect, let's talk about the C-Suite and VPs. They can be unprofessional. VPs use 'scare tactics' to get what they want out of consultants instead of rightfully supporting them. There is also a 'do as I say, not as I do' attitude with some of them. Simply put, they are not VPs, they are bullies, and this goes unaddressed by HR and the CEO (probably out of fear of retaliation). There are some VERY awkward people in management roles - just look at their etiquette on LinkedIn. Some of them 'comment' and 'like' inappropriate posts, click-bait, or memes which connections can see. I feel like management spends more time BS-ing on social media than actually managing, all for the sake of getting their name out there. During video calls, management has also acted unprofessional with body language (i.e. sitting backwards in a chair, rude comments, gestures, etc.). Be professional (or at least act like it). Now let's talk about the awkwardness. It transcends through different departments within W. Marketing is weird. They went 'all-in' on a stock photo of a 65-year-old lady with short, silver hair and dubbed her 'Jamie Lee Curtis.' And when I say 'all-in', they went ALL IN. She is everywhere: on the food truck, website, presentation slides, cutouts at conferences, you name it. They even photoshopped her into photos with employees and potential customers. Considering the average age of employees at W is somewhere between 30-35, having a stock photo of an old lady plastered everywhere is not a good representation of a young tech company. Additionally, Marketing would even have the audacity to ask employees to do stuff outside their comfort zone just for a 'like' on social media. The company also spent a ridiculous amount of money to hire a third-party marketing firm to rent a van to tour the Midwest with coffee and food to potential customers (funny they had that in their budget despite W's money problems and layoffs, but once again, I digress...) Now onto pay. Consultants, your pay is low here. According to Fishbowl, the pay for the titles for W consultants is about $10k - 20k below market. Either negotiate like crazy when you are offered the job, or take your talents elsewhere. Also, the 401(k) match is nominal compared to most companies, so don't expect to retire early from W. Disorganization and lack of attention to detail is rampant here. Mistakes and typos are commonplace with admin and HR. It feels like no one proofreads emails before hitting send. Multiple times, emails had to be retracted by admins for various reasons. Funny side story: an HR rep once sent a job offer with salary info for a candidate out to the entire company. If you are joining as a consultant, be prepared to sink or swim. There is no training program in place for new hires. This is not the place for you if you do not have tech industry experience or any sort of consulting experience. You may be lucky and have a mentor that wants to see you grow and develop, but most of the time, you are on your own to learn everything. Although this is not necessarily a detriment, you will need a mentoring supervisor to be successful here. Performance reviews are twice a year. Although I liked the aspect, your score on the review is like an episode of Whose Line: the points don't matter. Instead of giving raises to top scorers, there is a forced ranking system at W Energy (similarly implemented at GE years ago and was a corporate and PR failure). In other words, if you want a raise, you have to suck up to management. Very few people stay longer than a year at W. Most who get the job are already searching for new opportunities after a few months. The previous reviews stating layoffs only months after some were hired into their tenure is true and reflects poor company management. This place is just a stepping stone. All things considered, W Energy won't be around in three years. They will either go belly-up or get acquired by 2025.