Southern Company Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Southern Company

Pros – Opportunities to work with interesting technology
Nice people
Nationally recognized company
Financially stable
Desirable location

Cons – Middle management that is clueless
Upper management that depend too heavily on middle management 's clueless assessments
Upper management with serious "I got mine, good luck getting yours" mentality
Only open to new ideas that were conceived 10 years ago

Advice to Senior Management – Become more dynamic.
Look for a CEO that is young and forward thinking.
Quit rewarding ignorant do-nothing "yes men" middle managers
Seek more direct input and involvement of your front line troops

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Southern Company

Pros – low key, work at your own pace, good benefits

Cons – no recognition for exceptional workers, not challenging

Advice to Senior Management – Challange your employees more

Current Employee – been working at Southern Company

Pros – great hours, great benefits, good money. You are always working and you make friends

Cons – The management is awful and they don't respect you

Advice to Senior Management – You can work there if you are mentally strong.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Southern Company

Pros – It is a great place to begin a career. Management is great, the opportunities to learn are great, opportunity to explore new areas is open,

Cons – It is a very large company, they are currently not trying to expand, health benefits seem high, pay could be more.

Advice to Senior Management – Continue hiring co-ops that have performed well. Overall, the company is performing well and the management is doing a great job to keep employees happy.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Southern Company

Pros – Managers are great about granting time off, schedules very flexible, very family oriented company

Cons – Most of company is up in age so if you are young, you may not find many people that you can relate to.

Advice to Senior Management – N/A

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Southern Company

Pros – Values
Benefits
People
Culture
Care about their employees

Cons – Large company;
the more you climb the ladder the more difficult it is to climb

Advice to Senior Management – Stick with our Southern Style Values

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Southern Company

Pros – Good benefits and pay, family oriented, have the opportunity to climb the ladder by being promoted as see fit, attain knowledge, southern style, trust, the company was willing to provide a relocation package for those who did not reside in or near the place of work - either get reimbursed for relocation expenses or take a month's pay as a sign-on bonus, help people find a place to live and would even help the spouse find some type of work if possible in and around the area, provide programs for employees who may have issues/problems that they may need help with

Cons – learning a lot of procedures, going through training classes where you have to obtain at least 80%, the training program needs some work because some classes do not pertain to the whole engineering population that are at the plant, employees are only given a 30 minute lunch so employees really are not able to leave the plant to get something to eat since the nearest place to eat is 10-15 miles away, the human resource department needs some work - some employees who were being interviewed did not get the same treatment as others and need a better system to let new employees know where they can find the answer to certain questions that they may have

Advice to Senior Management – Try to look into a better training program

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Southern Company

Pros – If you lack advanced or undergraduate education, it's a place with good pay where you can retire quietly and draw a nice pension. Layoffs and downsizing rarely occur. Great benefits and annual bonus. Also, very stable.

Cons – The company doesn't respect education at all and spends more time recruiting than actually training and trying to retain current employees. Diversity is non-existent and management is among the worst ever. Really, managers are determined by years of experience and not leadership skills. Performance management is weak and everything from promotions, to pay increases are based on a "like" factor. Nepotism is rampant and there is a general culture of retaliation. On top of all this, the employees in general are lazy. No one knows why anything is done nor wants to find out. Most people have been in their jobs for like 100 years with no opportunities for upward mobility in sight. The same folks move around in different jobs, but are rarely promoted and if you are a minority, forget about it. You'll remain at the lowest levels within the company and will be expected to do the most work. There is a double standard for people who are in the "family" and then, there's everyone else.

Advice to Senior Management – Actually walk the walk by proving that you value ALL employees, not just those who are related to someone. Work on trying to promote a fair and equitable workplace for all, if that's possible.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Southern Company

Pros – Very friendly, trustworthy atmosphere. People really seem to care and so does the Company as a whole. Southern maintains a very friendly work environment and places an emphasis on work/life balance - it's not uncommon to hear from Management that, "Your family comes first." The training and opportunities for advancement are comparable to most any other large corporation, as are the employee benefits.

Cons – It's a large corporation and therefore suffers from all politics and beauracracies one would expect.

Advice to Senior Management – Southern Company has a positive corporate culture overall - please continue to foster this. Employees really appreciate working for the company and the associated feeling of being part of a larger "Family." Let's continue to succeed and continue to demonstrate ourcommittment to the success of our employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Southern Company

Pros – long term carrer; stable, sound company, good people to work with

Cons – Not fast growing unless in Nuclear generation

Advice to Senior Management – Treat senior employees fairly for retention purposes.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend