TransAlta

[schoolboy]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone worked or knows someone who has worked at TransAlta ?

Any experiences/stories would be greatly appreciated.

[FiveFreshFish]

Decent place to work with average pay. I had free underground parking during my years there.

[2.2vtec]

I have heard mixed things about working there. I guess it all depends on what department you would be in.

[Gainsbarre]

Don't bother. I just left them a few months ago after spending 3 years at the Calgary head office and would never go back.

The waitlist for underground parking is currently at approximately 8 years if you're not a director or above.

[schoolboy]

May I ask what department/position you were in?

[The Cosworth]

I heard it was a great place before de-regulation then then sort of when downhill for that.

I now work for one of the companies that was a spinoff of TransAlta

[Gainsbarre]

Originally posted by schoolboy
May I ask what department/position you were in?

I'll just say that I was on the third floor of tower two.

[spiceboy]

Originally posted by Gainsbarre
Don't bother. I just left them a few months ago after spending 3 years at the Calgary head office and would never go back.

The waitlist for underground parking is currently at approximately 8 years if you're not a director or above.

Was it the compensation? The people? The environment and culture? What made you leave? One of my friends just got a job with TransAlta and I heard the salary and compensation was very competitive with the market.

[benyl]

Culture was a little fear based when I was there. I was a contractor and decided not to become an employee. Lots of politics. Lots re-work.

HR and Finance kind of rule the roost. From an IT perspective, it is a company that has 2000 employees, but uses software and systems like it is a company with 10,000 employees. It is very strange.

The CIO, who was walked to the door, when I was there didn't really have a clue about IT systems. It was pretty comedic to be in meetings with him.

[Gainsbarre]

double post

[Gainsbarre]

Compensation is below average -- I had a few years experience and was barely making 60k base salary (I make far more than that now). People in the "new grad" programme (which is a joke btw) start off in the mid 50k range. TransAlta is WAY behind the industry curve on that -- other far more respectable companies have abolished these "new grad do a 6-12 rotation here, and another one there, then a third one..." ) LONG ago.

There are a few good people, but many of them are real knife-in-the-back kind of thugs, making empty promises and so on (e.g. promising to reimburse you for education/conference expenses while encouraging you to partake in them, and then going back on their word - has happened to others and myself). Also, you need to be very, VERY leery of some of the females who are managers and above there -- many of them in my department/area (and I won't name names of course) would sack VERY competent people for no reason (e.g. one was a director for a few years, and is now a VP for a far larger competitor -- brilliant dismissal, eh?). Never trust any of them. Same can be said of some of the male managers and above too of course, but I just couldn't help but notice how ruthless many of the female managers are. Granted, the department I was in was over 80% male, so I figure it's a trait that they (the female managers) need to have to survive. Makes it a shit environment for the rest of the employees though.

The environment and culture is just garbage -- dripping with nasty politics, as I've just mentioned. Few of the directors and above can recognize talent. The new EVP pubicly snubbed one of the trading groups and arguably the most successful trader in the company. So he left to start his own shop and took much of the group with him. Based on her bewilderment in the aftermath I think the EVP is still scratching her head over how that could have happened (HINT -- maybe his talents weren’t appreciated?)

Not sure what area your friend is in. If it is engineering (4th floor of tower two), then maybe things are a bit different, because I know nothing about that area. From my experience, I don't find them competitive at all -- hell, even Enbridge, a company with a reputation of being very low paying, was offering far more money than what I was getting at TransAlta.

[spiceboy]

I'm sure there are people like the ones you mentioned everywhere you go. It's inevitable when you are in a big company. I'm not familiar with TransAlta, but my friend just got in (engineering/IT) with a very impressive and competitive compensation package. Perhaps TransAlta is finally doing something to attract and retain staff???
You think TransAlta's pay is bad? Why do you think my friend left her company in the first place? It's a big company as well! :confused: :guns:

[willyC]

i know alot of transalta employees, i work along side alot of them. They like their job. They get paid BIG dollars. Although, they are power system elec. What posistion you looking at?

[schoolboy]

I'm considering a position on the power sales side.

[Gainsbarre]

Originally posted by schoolboy
I'm considering a position on the power sales side.

Do you mean origination?

[schoolboy]

trading

[Gainsbarre]

This role? Have you heard bak from anyone yet? I'm pretty certain it has been filled already. The actual trading roles (term, cash and even real time) always attract a LOT of applicants (both internal and external), many with graduate degrees and loads of experience.

http://www.transalta.com/transalta/webcms.nsf/AllDoc/759D69C42B8C4C3587257157004F9EA1?OpenDocument