***The following applies to my experience working at the Northborough, MA facility. Experience at other locations could very well differ vastly from my own***
Although the overall company culture purports to be modern and forward thinking, depending on your department this may or may not be your direct experience. My position is within a group that has a pervasive "old boys club" type of feeling. i.e. frequent occurrences of older men making gross and inappropriate remarks, disrespect and sometimes outright contempt for minorities, women, and the LGBTQ+ community, and overall a toxic and dated mindset. I'm insulated from most of the insensitivity as a cis-white male, but I honestly can't wait for the old timers to just retire and gtfo. When people talk about being "blue-collar" in a disparaging or crass way, this is what they mean.
Apart from this, there is a general sense of bloat and inefficiency across much of the company from an operational standpoint. Getting things done takes forever, communication and exchange of information between departments can be lacking, and overall you get the feeling that a lot more should be getting done in a shorter amount of time given the size of the company and breadth of our resources. But everybody seems to just write it off with a remark like "oh well, that's just how it is at a utility company." That's not good enough. As not just an employee but also a customer of this company (they provide my gas service) I can't help but feel a sense of indignation. National Grid could and should be doing better. But who knows, maybe this is just how corporate America works?
Lastly, there are a TON of old people here. Over half of my department is within 5 years of retirement. On the one hand, good riddance to all that bad energy (I don't say this out of any sense of ageism, but rather out of a distaste for the toxic old boys' club vibe that I described above). On the other hand, you can't ignore that an incredibly significant body of knowledge and expertise is about to walk out the door. It feels like not enough is being done to capture all this knowledge and prepare for this giant exodus, nor is the company doing enough to distinguish itself as an actual good place to work to draw fresh talent.
