Energy Focus Reviews

2.6

32% would recommend to a friend

(41 total reviews)

Lesley Matt

100% approve of CEO

29% positive business outlook

Energy Focus has an employee rating of 2.6 out of 5 stars, based on 41 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Energy Focus employee rating is 25% below average for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

41 reviews
1.0
25 Feb 2016

Struggling company with no leadership

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great voluntary separation program. If you are here for 3 months and decide it isn't a fit you get one months pay when you leave. Recently the CEO has decided that if you are here 6 months you get 2 months pay if you decided this place isn't a fit. Many people have marked that date on their calendar and are looking forward to collecting their two months to jump off this sinking ship.

Cons

Oh wow, where to begin. First I want to caution people reading the recent positive reviews on here as they have been requested by management. When the negative reviews were brought up, initially the CEO said he didn't care about glass door and it was just some place for disgruntled employees to complain. Due to the fact that HR is STRUGGLING to get people to come here with glass door often being cited during phone interviews, they have changed their tune about glass door by trying to paint a rosy picture through asking people to log on and say something great. Sorry, it isn't great. The President and CEO have absolutely ZERO leadership ability and have no business running a company. The New York office is full of people who have been placed into positions they have neither the experience nor the ability to do the jobs. They have been selected simply because they are related to investors in the company. The company in 2015 experienced over 50% turn over and 2016 is on pace to break that record. The CEO stated in a meeting that 50% turn over doesn't bother him and if it were up to him it would be closer to 75%. Well Sir, you may just get your wish. What this has lead to is little to no support infrastructure in the company due to folks starting programs or projects and then leaving only to have someone else have to come back in and start over from scratch. They have no training programs and their marketing is relatively non-existent, again... due to turn over and folks being placed in key positions based on their families investment stake in the company and not on their ability to successfully do their job. The company leadership touts a "FUN" place to work, but in reality most people are miserable here and the vast majority are actively looking for other employment. Leadership has not presented any kind of coherent strategy to make the company successful and instead just throws a bunch of stuff at the wall to see what sticks. They always make the excuses for the leadership and program execution shortfalls with the excuse of being a "growing company". Many companies grow all the time, successfully at that, with a sense of direction and a cohesive strategy without abusing it's employees and having folks run for the doors. I definitely would not recommend this place to my worst enemy.

1.0
3 Mar 2016

Worst Company I Have Ever Worked For

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are some very bright people - in engineering, operations and customer service support - who are dedicated to the idea of giving their very best effort every day, under extremely difficult circumstances.

Cons

By far the least professional, poorly managed company I have ever worked for. Senior Executive Management is petty, mean-spirited, calculating and back-stabbing; and that is among themselves. As for how they treat the rest of the company's employees, one word sums it up....DEPLORABLE!!! It is the most incompetent senior management team I have ever experienced. Strategy and direction change weekly. They should put a revolving door at the main entrance, there are so many people coming and going. Some turnover is normal -even healthy - for most companies. But 50 - 60% is far more than any company should ever experience; especially when most of those leaving (resigning or fired) are high quality individuals. It's just a horrible, horrible place to work.

1.0
3 Mar 2016

Next Episode of the Apprentice

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The technology is interesting and the workday challenges are entertaining to work through. Most of the non-executive people have a good level of commitment to do their jobs and skill at their respective positions. It is a great experience to stretch my comfort zone and I can develop flexible, useful skills I would not get elsewhere. There is a great story to be told concerning the product development and its association with the military.

Cons

The level of turnover is mindboggling for a company, particularly a small company. It seems like the company is run like episodes of the Apprentice – “you didn’t perform today, you are fired!” Management seems to feel they can get the next person to apply for the job and see how it goes for the next episode. Due to the ridiculous size of the revolving door, there is no base core of competency in any of the functional groups in the organization. The working level (non-executives) of the company is populated by people with tenures of less than two years, most less than one year. All groups have experienced near 100% turnover in the past few years. All of the tribal knowledge is gone as is the real expertise in the different areas. This effect cuts across all functions; technical, sales, marketing and technical service. No industry superstars or rising stars will touch this company with a long pole. The turnover is easily verified by looking at the number of former employees that show up on different professional networking websites. Often times you can see their duration of employment with this company as well. The technical base has been gutted and the innovative talent is gone. Those who developed the military products were terminated or have left. The innovative development projects that led to the inception of the current product line were shut down and nothing has replaced them. With current management it is an exercise of leveraging the existing products and getting as much money as possible for those. If a sales person can’t sell fast enough, then they are given a pink slip, unless they fall under the protected category, in which case they can be nonproductive and remain with the company. The lack of professionalism within the leadership of the company is evident when you step into the office. Loud vulgar language in the office space is the norm, not the exception. The volume increases when the CEO is in the office for his visits from NY. Putting the executives together in a room results in a loud, emotionally charged “discussion” with each feeding off of the other. There is no voice of reason, leadership and maturity to slow the escalating emotion in the discussions and return the conversation to the foundation of corporate functionality. The results of the emotionally charged discussions are knee-jerk, emotionally based responses, hence the near constant change in direction and inconsistent personnel changes. There is no HR management. Two VPs of HR have been let go in the past twelve months. That fact alone points to the tip of an iceberg. The leadership of the company has faltered.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 41 Reviews

Glassdoor has 41 Energy Focus reviews submitted anonymously by Energy Focus employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Energy Focus is right for you.