Avoid if you can, it's branded as a battery start-up but stuck in old Volkswagen Group structures - Anonymous employee PowerCo Employee Review

1.0
May 31, 2023
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pay is satisfying and includes overtime.

Cons

PowerCo SE is being marketed as Volkswagen Group's latest battery startup. In reality, it's stuck in legacy Volkswagen structures that prevent it from being flexible. Don't be fooled by the flat reporting lines they advertise below job listings. There's nothing flat. You'll have to work your way through countless approvals before getting one thing done. Managers micromanage every single project and have little experience managing teams. They barely listen and are mostly there to show others they are managers earning a lot. You'll constantly be reminded about who reports to whom because that's what most managers are concerned about. The reporting levels and structures give a sense of responsibility and feed into their unquenchable ego. If you're someone who is not concerned about that but okay with just doing a bit of your work and taking your pay, it's probably the place for you. There are no set structures yet on career development yet as they are also figuring it out.

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PowerCo Response
10mo
Thanks for your honest feedback. As a young company within a large group, we’re aware that some legacy structures still influence our ways of working. We're actively working on building our own identity, culture, and career paths – and that takes time. We’re learning and growing every day. - Your PowerCo HR Team

Explore other reviews about PowerCo

1.0
Jun 10, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The organization offers a unique opportunity to participate in a large-scale industrial project with significant international involvement. Employees should expect a fast-changing environment, evolving priorities, and workplace practices that may differ from those found in many established Canadian organizations. • Opportunity to contribute to a large-scale manufacturing project. • Exposure to international teams, processes, and perspectives. • Strong technical expertise within many areas of the organization. • Unique professional experience not commonly available in the region.

Cons

• Frequent organizational changes sometimes created uncertainty around priorities and decision-making. • Communication regarding strategic decisions was not always consistent across all levels of the organization. • Employees may find some organizational practices and expectations differ from those found in other organizations operating in the region. • Employees seeking advancement opportunities may find that international experience and global mobility are valued within certain functions. • Processes and policies continued to evolve as the organization established and expanded its Canadian operations.

1.0
Mar 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This was challenge, soooo many broken systems here from top to bottom. You need to pretend you don’t have any experience, otherwise your manager will be afraid of outshining them and more expectations being set. Because everyone plays the same game, it’s easy to just skip the work without any accountability. I guess a pro is they hire lots of immigrants like me, which is nice. But then they don’t want to listen to us and just want us to sit there in meetings and agree to stuff that are wrong.

Cons

No career options, even if you wanted to become a team lead, you would need to 1) wait several years for a free spot in the team lead mentoring program to open 2) go through team lead mentorship 3) wait for a new team lead position to open in the company. This means you can wait many years to maybe get promotion. And for pay raise, there is a political thing called “10% rule” so which means at most 10% of people will n company could get a pay grade increase, even if it is very deserving. Many teams have people with same job title and responsibilities, and one of them is higher pay grade. Often the higher paid person is just used chat gpt / MS copilot to do all their works. Really silly to see this, and with all confidence doing it. It really is politics here, need to play the game I guess.

3
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