Opower Employee Reviews about "match"
67% would recommend to a friend
(14 total reviews)
Daniel Yates
75% approve of CEO
Found 14 of over 184 reviews
Updated 8 Apr 2020
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Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "Smart people... I've been working in Intel and Oracle before and the professional level in Opower is even higher." (in 36 reviews)
- "Certain managers continually get promoted with less than a year in their current position while individual workers actually getting stuff done don't receive any recognition for the hard work they do." (in 6 reviews)
- "So work life balance was a major plus, nobody cared and you could coast along into oblivion or just… work from home…" (in 6 reviews)
Reviews about "match"
Return to all Reviews- 3.027 Nov 2014Software EngineerCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearSan Francisco, CA
Pros
Mission Driven - help save power consumption in the world Smart and hard working engineers Still a young company, with plenty of career opportunities to grow (even though the path to career growth is NOT defined)
Cons
For a tech company in SF Bay area, the benefits are way below par (assuming they exist) - specially for a start-up/ young public company - No free food (except crappy Friday lunches), no full health insurance coverage, no 401k match, no Employee Stock Purchase Program. Really stingy, even after being public - and there is a difference between being thrifty and stingy. Examples: Company boasts of free chair massages - but for 160+ people in SF office, they have 1 masseuse come in 2 days a week. The way they manage is by initially asking you to book a 10 min slot only once in 2 weeks, and as office grows - they ask you to book only once in 3 weeks. Just get more masseuse - and solve the problem. They refill the most popular snack - ice cream once a month, so it only lasts 3-5 days - and the company very proudly boasts of these benefits. Lot of talk from HR dept - but no actionable work - management agrees there is a 401k matchent agrees there is a 401k matchent agrees there is a 401k match issue - but wont do anything about it. I feel HR dept doesn't really have monetary resources to match up other SF bay area tech companies, but they never even acknowledge it and keep the broken record 'We want to be best' running. Very poor compensation, no bonus structure, not well defined promotion plan One of the worst employee review system I've seen which changes every 6-9 months.
13 - 5.015 May 2014Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearArlington, VA
Pros
There are six main reasons why I love working at Opower: -Great Mission: It's energizing to be part of a company that is looking to make such a positive impact on the world -- and to see that it's working. -Great Products: The software Opower makes is innovative, usable, and well-designed. You feel proud of what you help create. On top of that, we get to use very cutting-edge technology. (In my past jobs, most of my requests to get the most advanced, cutting-edge tools were denied for budget reasons.) -Great People / Culture: Opower is a work hard, party hard environment where the people are extremely talented (the interview process is rigorous) and a lot of fun. Oh yeah, and there are free massages, cool toys around the office (scooters and ping pong tables!), free catered lunch on Fridays, fully-stocked pantries, and tons of fun parties and events. The list goes on. -Exciting Growth: Opower is growing fast and expanding internationally. That comes with unique challenge, of course, but even so it's fun and rewarding to see the company's products go forward into new markets and languages around the world. Oh yeah, and we went public recently. :-) -Leadership: Alex and Dan (the CEOs) are wonderful and trustworthy, and they've hired other excellent leaders who are moving the company forward and making smart strategic decisions about our future. It's a pleasure working for them. They're not business elites who are out of touch with their staff; they know what we do, what challenges we face, and they're very transparent and eager to hear our concerns and make us feel confident about the future. -Ongoing Improvement: Opower is great at evaluating its employees and overall corporate culture to identify where we're weak and where we're strong. We have regular performance reviews and compensation evaluation schedules, as well as regular company meetings to assess where we stand. This makes for a lot of transparency and ultimately a much stronger relationship between management and staff.
Cons
The challenges of working at Opower: -Work-life balance is a challenge. The people here work very hard, things move very fast, and there is absolutely no end in sight to the vast amount of work we have to do (which I consider a good thing). Sometimes, typically near the end of the quarter, you need to work some late nights and to meet tight deadlines. -Compensation: Opower is an exceptional company doing exceptional work, and I am sure many people here receive above-average compensation, but in my case I feel I am receiving average compensation. However, as mentioned above, I will say that Opower is very good about regular performance reviews and raises. -Benefits: The only complaints I have here are that Opower does not match 401k contributions and there is no tuition reimbursement for people in grad school. But honestly this is pretty equally matched by other benefits that Opower DOES provide, which go beyond just the standard health/dental,etc. benefits: extra cash for commuting, a great culture and office environment, team offsites, ample budget for professional development, tons of corporate swag, and on and on and on. -Rapid Growth: Since we're growing so fast into a large company, it can be hard to keep the culture as lightweight, fun, and non-bureaucratic as it's always been. Moreover, hiring new people and getting them up-to-speed is difficult. We're actively working on maintaining an excellent culture and improving our onboarding process, but we're definitely seeing how hard it can be to quickly integrate new staff and keep the culture fun when there's so much new growth / work to do.
1
Opower Response10yWOW, what a review! This feedback is invaluable. Appreciate your perspective and will be sharing it with HR and senior management.
- 1.016 Jul 2016Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 3 years
Pros
Opower has been a fabulous place to work for the past 3+ years, but the Oracle acquisition has ruined all of that in less than 3 months. If you join today, you'll get to work with some of the smart, interesting people that made Opower great. But act quickly, because they'll all be gone soon. - Free snacks, free massages, and free Friday lunches are still around - Good office locations: near Montgomery BART in San Francisco and Courthouse Metro in Arlington/D.C.
Cons
- Opower's best and brightest are fleeing in droves, while only the most mediocre, least experienced, or most ossified employees remain to welcome our corporate overlords. It's only going to get worse over the next few months. - Oracle people and policies are already changing the fast-paced, get-it-done, fun-loving culture of Opower. We're going from Google Apps to Oracle's crappy 'Beehive' alternative, from unlimited PTO to 2 weeks, and from an office of motivated talent to an office where people apply to new jobs all day, if they come to work at all. - Oracle ensured that the most talented Opower employees will leave by lowballing the Oracle job offers: our same base salaries but with unclear bonus plans, no equity, no transportation or gym subsidy, a much longer annual review cycle/uncertain promotion potential, and no more unlimited PTO. So, significantly less total compensation. But hey, there's 401k match! :| - No more mission-driven culture. Oracle could care less about saving energy or creating a clean energy future: they literally said as much in our employee town hall. (Sorry, having compostable forks in the Oracle cafeteria isn't the same thing.)
21 - 5.09 Dec 2014Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee
Pros
- Great perks including weekly massages, catered lunches, casual dress and dogs in the office! - The employee population is really smart and passionate about that mission of the company - Growing company so get exposure to all different parts of the business and have the ability to make the most of your career growth - The company is at a good size which gives you the ability to bring in best practices and make changes for a more efficient work place - Try work hard / play environment
Cons
- No 401K match - Hours can be long but your hard work is rewarded
4Opower Response9yFantastic to read you're happy to be an O and all the reasons why!
- 5.027 Mar 2015Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearArlington, VA
Pros
Comfortable and encouraging work environment with a great team of people. Very smart and passionate employees who care about each other and the companies success. Its a fun place to work, and offers a ton of opportunity to learn and develop in areas of your interests. Has a sense of team effort to continuing to grow the company and generate results.
Cons
No 401k match Salary could be more competitive
1 - 5.09 Dec 2014Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearArlington, VA
Pros
Opower truly is a great place to work. We have dogs in the office, food that is stocked everyday in the kitchen, massages onsite once a week, happy hours, and we get to work around some of the smartest people in the DC area. Generous equity and PTO. Plus we get off for a "winter break" it's like being in college all over again! The work is challenging, and if you are not challenged, there is always more work to be done. Another thing that I personally love is the people. People here are willing to lend you their knowledge if they have worked here for a while, and you have questions. Overall, I think it is an awesome place to work in the DC area and the best place I have worked for in my career.
Cons
- no 401k match - priorities change often
1 - 5.019 May 2014Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsArlington, VA
Pros
There are 3 huge reasons to work for Opower. 1. Opower makes a real difference in the world. Currently Opower is savings over 1 Terawatt hour (TWh) per year and this should continue to grow exponentially for years to come. To put this in context the US Energy Information Administration estimated the entire US solar generation for 2013 to be just over 9 TWh, so Opower as a single company is producing 1/10th of the energy that the entire US solar industry is producing. Being part of this company for a few of years you will directly create more energy savings than you will likely consume in your entire efficiently lived life. That is amazing! 2. Opower is an huge financial opportunity. In the last few years the company has more than 10x'ed its value and it is very possible for Opower do this again in the next few years. This growth is certainly not a given, but Opower has a better chance at doing it than most companies out there and for those who hold on to their Options it can be a life changing financial opportunity. 3. Opower is a great work environment. Friday lunches, massages, tons of snacks, showers and bike racks at work, the list goes on. I guess for SF this sort of list is expected but in Arlington and most other places in the world perks like these are incredible and I definitely appreciate them. Also, the most important part of a great work environment is working with a bunch of smart, energetic, positive people and Opower certainly has this.
Cons
Opower is a pretty great place to work but it has some cons. 1. No 401K match, official justification is that Opower does Options grants instead. I get this but honestly I would accept a lower salary to be able to get that same amount of money in an untaxed 401k match and get above the 17.5K personal contribution limit in my 401k and would appreciate that as an option. 2. There can be friction between teams at times. Maybe Sales wants to sell something that the Product Team doesn't want to make, or the Dev team wants to make stricter data specs for easier coding while the Ops team wants looser specs for easier implementations. These conflicts can get a bit uglier and snarkier than they should and it is a drag on all involved. That being said cross team collaboration has greatly improved the last few years but it is still a work in progress. 3. Not enough emphasis placed on growing from within. Opower has grown a ton in the last few years and while there is now a framework for growing from within and a rising tide of internal promotions, there have still been many times in the past when outsiders have been hired directly into senior roles that have lead to reports basically training their own managers and a lot of wasted time. Hopefully as the company continues to grow it will continue to improve its internal talent pipelines and be less tempted by outsiders with exciting resumes.
3Opower Response10yWow! Thanks for so much detail. All of this is very valuable to know for our continued success. I'll pass along your thoughts to senior management.
- 5.09 Dec 2014Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee
Pros
Very intelligent, driven co-workers Senior management is very friendly and receptive to ideas Most employees are highly engaged with the Company's mission Dog-friendly workplace Cool downtown location in a historic building in downtown SF (but moving to a bigger, better space soon)
Cons
Everyone's main complaint is the lack of a 401k match. (Management is aware and has addressed this head-on, so my guess is that it'll be added some day.)
1 - 3.08 Oct 2015DirectorCurrent EmployeeArlington, VA
Pros
Free snacks Dog-friendly Great place for the young and single Sharp bunch Fraternity like place
Cons
Lack of diversity Inconsistent about work flexibility Not great place for people with kids No transparency on upward mobility No flex time No 401K match
8Opower Response8yWe appreciate the feedback. Our People team is working on a few initiatives for 2016 that will address your concerns - stay tuned!
