More politics than business, struggling portfolio, and bad people management - Anonymous employee Hitachi Energy Employee Review

2.0
13 Aug 2020
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The company is a JV of ABB and Hitachi created on July 1st, 2020, employing about 40k people worldwide. ABB got rid of its Power Grids business, once a very successful one, nowadays struggling with margins and vastly unable to cope with the competition especially in developing markets. Maybe Hitachi will bring some "fresh breeze" into the ABB Power Grids culture, which is their only hope. It is a very international company with great history and maybe with Hitachi's help it can improve its situation.

Cons

Unfortunately in the past few years I've seen the culture become worse and worse. Probably because of many years of pressure from the previous ABB CEO and the investors, the Power Grids management has become micro-managing and created a culture of fear of change, over-reporting, machiavellianism, and "managing up over everything else". I saw many humble, talented and hard-working people leave, and several less talented but politically savvy "brown-noses" get ahead in my function (sales and marketing), but also in others (finance, HR, general management...). Talent management is a joke, probably because HR (with a few exceptions) is supportive of the culture mentioned above, rather than trying to change it for the better into a more positive, trustful and meritocratic culture. And, since D&I is such an important topic these days, Power Grids is still very man-dominated. Luckily for me as a man I didn't experience this kind of discrimination, but many female colleagues could clearly feel a glass ceiling, and the "diversity initiatives" are only window-dressing. Not an environment I wanted to stay in.

Explore other reviews about Hitachi Energy

5.0
29 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Work flexibility, culture and people, importance of work, physical facilities

Cons

time to get decisions from parent company

4.0
1 Jul 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Lots of support for early career - Projects that match level of experience - Management team is supportive but trusts your independence in managing projects

Cons

- Pay is not that competitive - Beauacracy due to it being a large company - Differences in processes in local and global regions

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All