Pros
-Career opportunities: I started working at the Baltimore utility branch of Exelon in 2001 as a customer call center representative. I have moved to a new job about every 24-36 months, always a promotion, always enriching my knowledge and skills. Now I'm a supervisor in a design and engineering area and I'm grateful for the varied opportunities available for all company employees. From special projects to volunteering to employee resource groups, there are so many ways to network and carve a path to success. -Generous tuition reimbursement: Since my undergraduate degree is in a liberal arts field I wanted to go back to school to get a formal business education. I'm pursuing my MBA from a great school in Maryland. The tuition reimbursement level for Masters programs at Exelon is exceptionally generous compared to my classmates' companies. -Feels like a family: I was concerned after the merger with Exelon that my utility company would lose our identity in this much larger corporation. My fears have not been founded. Every interaction I've had with the other utilities has indicated to me that they are each similarly a family, and both individuals and the corporation as a whole has been nothing but welcoming to the newest branch of the Exelon organization. -Flexible work schedule: Flex time is a wonderful benefit that most employees enjoy, shift working organizations notwithstanding. Generous amounts of PTO and flex time combine to make it very easy to achieve a satisfactory work-life balance.
Cons
-Change Management: The chief con that I have encountered is a lack of adequate emphasis on the importance of change management when it comes to integrating new systems or processes. The perception is that Exelon as a whole will push down new applications or changes to applications without ample notice to the business areas to allow proper change management strategies, or at times without enough time to revise processes that are impacted by the changes. If you're very agile this will bother you less, but as a utility we have a workforce that is both aging and unaccustomed to rapid change. This has been a struggle. -Over taxed leadership: From first line supervision in "the trenches" to the mid level leaders there is a prevailing sense that everyone has too much on their plates. It is easy for an employee to feel that their concerns are not a priority when leaders are often unavailable due to their full schedules of meetings. As a first line leader I wish I had more time to develop employees towards their career goals, help them determine what their goals are, or assist them in forming their own teams to work on process improvements. Sadly, the time is not there.
