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Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories

Is this your company?

this is as good as it gets - Engineer Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Employee Review

5.0
Apr 14, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I'm writing this in response to some of the very long, very rant-like "reviews" below. Folks, this place is as good as it gets. The guys at the top are smart. We don't have a weird business cycle (aka layoffs) that many companies do. The president cares about the place and is smart, even if you don't always agree with him. Do you get that employee ownership means that the company is putting free money into your retirement account? It's not matched, it's yours no matter what. You just need to work hard so that you make SEL better instead of worse, which by some of your reviews below, I wonder about. Take some ownership and think on your feet. Let the little things pass. And by little things, I mean a lame supervisor, a desk in a location you don't like, some decision about benefits that you would have chosen differently, all that stuff. You can control your attitude and how you react to what happens around you. Do that, and SEL is as fine a place to work as you'll find. It's not perfect, but neither are we. It's a business not a self actualization society.

Cons

If you're not up for some hard work or want to always get things your way, SEL is not going to be your place. If you think you know everything and want to come here just to show us how its done at [your ex company name here], it's not the place for you. The only significant thing I can think of is that SEL tries so long to help mediocre or unprofessional or jerky people work out here that the rest of us have to put up with that more than we'd like. Then the guy finally leaves and posts on Glassdoor. Go figure.

Explore other reviews about Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories

5.0
Jul 2, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good work culture and benefits

Cons

Less other location options other than Pullman

4.0
Apr 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Right job for some people. If you buy into the koolaid and are passionate about the power industry this can be an incredible job for you. The benefits are pretty great. I really enjoyed my coworkers, all of them feel human and are earnest. You can live quite cheaply in Pullman. There is an incredible amount of job security. SEL boasts they've never done a layoff. Additionally their ESOP distribution is generous - though it takes 6 years to fully vest. There is a lot of things I really admire about the company and the culture.

Cons

Comp is lower side. A lot of people are hired out of college and have only ever worked at SEL so sometimes I feel like there is a bit of an echo chamber. Small town. I really struggled with the initial allocation of 12 days PTO. 17 after 2 years is much easier. As a SWE, the company feels very catered to their power engineers. Company is very traditional in its values, people wear suits to work. Seems like the timeline for promotion is quite slow for SWE compared to other companies. I see a lot of friction when lower level engineers trying to advocate for changes; though I do think that the conversations with leadership happen in good faith.

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