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California ISO

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California ISO reviews

4.3

93% would recommend to a friend

(139 total reviews)

Elliot Mainzer

99% approve of CEO

97% positive business outlook

California ISO has an employee rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars, based on 139 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The California ISO 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

139 reviews
2.0
Oct 28, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Exciting and dynamic job where sometimes it is quiet and other times rapidly changing.

Cons

Lack of advancement opportunities, long shifts, poor management, poor work/life balance, poor job tools, lots of additional job tasks and functions that are not part of the core job descriptions, and poor treatment of employees.

4.0
May 17, 2019

Great company, just overworked

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Entry level pay is competitive, great culture, flexible working schedules. One of the best places to learn the industry with a wide amount of exposure and many challenging projects to work on. Employees are very qualified and talented.

Cons

Limited merit/experience increases. While entry level salary is pretty good, other companies have larger increases and pay more competitively at the mid-senior level and up. And many employees at the ISO are overworked relative to other companies and the work keeps increasing as the ISO is expanding but pay is not adjusted accordingly. There is a reason why other companies have a lot of ex-ISO employees: it's the best place to get good experience in the industry but you aren't paid enough to be retained and other companies will pay more for you.

avatar
California ISO Response
6y
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and the kind words on our culture! We pride ourselves on tackling the challenging projects that are facing the industry.
1.0
May 23, 2018

A major disappointment

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are some really great people to work with at the ISO. The building is very nice, and there are a lot of recreational activities on site. The ISO has a generous retirement plan for long timers, that if you manage to survive the biyearly "reorg." My interactions with my VP were always pleasant.

Cons

There are few toxic silos at the ISO. These silos are either maintained by Visa workers or by a continuous cycles of resignations and hiring, there is a position at the ISO that has not been closed for about two years now. The ISO abuse its Visa employees with high work load and lower salaries. If you're on Visa then please, for your dignity, look somewhere else before attempting the ISO. Many who receives their green card while working at the ISO leaves within few months. The phrase "The fish rots from the head" couldn't be more adequate to describe the culture problems that plauge certain business units. The place is extremely flat so the ambition and politics of the directors can burn down these business units while their directors are chasing glory. If you're in a diseased business units then there is a small chance of moving inside the ISO. A good test to figure out if the group that you're applying to is in a bad shape is to ask these two questions: how many of my future team mates have less than two years of experience? How many of my teammates are on Visa? Maybe HR should conduct the same test to see which groups are in awful shape. The ISO likes to advertise itself as a "competitive work environment" where pay is a measure of an employee contribution, but it is not. Merit increases are limited to 4%, rarely awarded, so starting salary is the most important factor in determining compensation. Raises are usually around 2%. There are many frustrated employees who are stuck because of a two year relocation contract.

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California ISO Response
8y
Thank you for providing this feedback. We will definitely evaluate with our management team.
Viewing 7 - 9 of 139 Reviews

Glassdoor has 183 California ISO reviews submitted anonymously by California ISO employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if California ISO is right for you.