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Sun Valley Solar Solutions

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Sun Valley Solar Solutions Reviews

4.5

90% would recommend to a friend

(33 total reviews)

Russ Patzer

90% approve of CEO

79% positive business outlook

Sun Valley Solar Solutions has an employee rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, based on 33 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Sun Valley Solar Solutions employee rating is 23% above average for employers within the Energy, mining, utilities industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

33 reviews
3.0
6 Mar 2016

Good Company but Lots of Room for Improvement

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I recently moved on from this job so I thought it would make sense to write a review about my experience working at this company. Sunny Work Environment While the office can be cramped at times, the general mood the people working at this company is pretty positive. For the most part everyone tries to be friendly with their coworkers even when things get stressful. You can tell that the owner of the company really cares about the workers and tries to promote a positive work environment. Training can be pretty sparse but there are usually lots of people willing to answer your questions while you figure things out early on. I had tons of experience prior so it was not an issue for me. Very Fast Pace The pace of work goes way up or down depending on the time of year which can be stressful, but the expectation is to keep up and push through. Depending on your personality, you may or may not like the workaholic mentality around the office. Some people may be motivated by the intense pace, but for me it wasn't really my style. It was fun to go out with co workers after work and just have fun out of the office. Reasonable Benefits They provide health care and paid time off for salary employees (I'm not sure about hourly). The benefits are pretty average with decent health care and 2 weeks PTO per year. The nice part is they don't have a “Use it or Lose it” policy for PTO so if you have some left over at the end of the year it'll carry over. Flexible Hours They're pretty chill about when you work as long as you clear it with the manager ahead of time. A lot of the office people work from 7AM-4PM but that can vary a bit depending on your needs. Plus depending on what you do, you can work from home sometimes which is really nice.

Cons

Buddy-Buddy Management Never anyone to go to if you had issues or conflict with an employee from another department. The management was way too friendly with HR and upper management. While one may think this could be a good thing because of the ‘culture’, it actually leads to a lot of issues. Often members of management will act inappropriately or make sketchy choices that would easily mean getting fired for any normal employee, but result in little to no disciplinary action. It's abundantly clear in many cases that upper management are allowed to bend and break rules on a regular basis. For example, company policy allows for employees to be married to one another as long as one is not a subordinate of the other. However, there are obvious violations of this rule, so if you have an issue with that certain person you can’t go to the boss because he/she is married to the person in question and would defend him. Even if she/he was making a mistake. The general issue is that it feels that if someone above you in the company is treating you unfairly or inappropriately that it is difficult to know who to go to resolve the issue. This is because most of the people who have the authority to do something about it, are likely close friends with the person in question and are unlikely to take meaningful action against them. Hypocritical Expectations As stated before, the expectations of the company are extremely high, and while this offers a challenge, it is also exhausting and very stressful much of the time. Some departments like Sales often fail to complete many of the tasks associated with their job which then fall to those lower on the totem pole who are often already overworked and overwhelmed. In the same breath, the salespeople will criticize those 'lower' employees for not being detail oriented, not noticing issues sooner, taking too long on tasks, ect. Having to update so many customers on their projects was a waste of time when there was nothing to update them about. But if it wasn’t done you would get a lot of crap. This goes back to the previous point that often those who are management or in the upper part of the company are not held to the same standards as everyone else...may it be because they are friends with the people in charge or that they bring in the sales for the company and are given an exceptional amount of slack. Pay Scale It’s really hard to say what the true pay scale was. The job I was offered paid less than advertised, even with reasonable experience. If you want to make a lot of money and you’re ok with not having a steady amount then sales is perfect. Purely commissioned, but they make a ton off large systems. For the amount of stress the pay should be higher for the other departments. It’s really hard to hear that the company is doing so well but even bonuses are low.

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Sun Valley Solar Solutions Response
10y
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such an honest and thoughtful review. It's clear that you cared very much about your time at SVSS and it sounds like you wished you could have spoken up more while you were here. Please know that copies of all reviews do go to our CEO. Again we thank you for your candor.
1.0
28 Aug 2014

Laid off after 2 months

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Warehouse and HR personnel are very welcoming and nice, $300 referral program, and being it's are pretty good

Cons

Was hired for a position that they didn't even have the logistics figured out for and then they decided to eliminate the position all together after having me do warehouse labor for 2 months (which was not what I was hired for) knowing full well that I quit a steady job for their company. Pretty bad business ethics if you ask me. Bad communication after the fact as well.

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Sun Valley Solar Solutions Response
11y
This is never a situation that we as an employer set out to create and we always appreciate the feedback as it is how we learn best and become better. Ultimately, we are sorry to hear that this is how the situation was perceived by this individual, it was never our intention to misrepresent a new role. We know our culture is not the right fit for everyone and sometimes those details cannot be uncovered until we work together and see. We truly hope that this former employee was able to find a position which makes them happy and utilizes their skills to the fullest; we think everyone deserves that opportunity!
1.0
17 Nov 2015

Beware - Commercial Division

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Solid ownership Great residential division and programs Accommodating to new employees Committed to growth, primarily in the residential division

Cons

Commercial Division ONLY - Run by a dictatorship with archaic business practices and policies The money flows to the top - ONLY - so do not expect to reap any huge rewards unless you are one of the blessed ones. Top management is able to run their own businesses inside the corporate framework. (Only upper management) If you love playing computer games and online chat during your work hours, you have found a wonderful home If you have any expertise and want to share your ideas, best to go elsewhere as these will fall on not only deaf ears, but ears that do allow suggestions or any ideas that do no emanate from the top. If you have limited capability and desire to be a go-for for the rest of your career, you have found a wonderful home Favoritism reigns supreme in this environment. If you don't make the cut, expect nothing less than the very worst job experience you will ever have This is an oil tanker. Very, very slow to make any new maneuvers

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Sun Valley Solar Solutions Response
10y
Thank you for your review. We do appreciate the feedback as we understand it takes a lot to speak-up and voice concerns. Please know this review was shared with our CEO. Being that you are a past employee, you hopefully witnessed firsthand, that Russ and Joe’s commitment is to continuous improvement, both on a personal level and for the company as a whole. Again, we thank you.
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Glassdoor has 35 Sun Valley Solar Solutions reviews submitted anonymously by Sun Valley Solar Solutions employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sun Valley Solar Solutions is right for you.