Vantaggi
Very stable company with little risk of layoffs. Coming from the telecommunications industry in the early 2000's, this felt like a relief for a while, but with the stability comes a lack of appetite for change (and deliberate change can be a very good thing!).
Svantaggi
Completely outdated and inefficient technology. We're still using MS Office 2003 (it's now 2013). This means that to exchange files with outside companies, they oftentimes have to save them in old versions (of Word, Excel, etc.) or else we can't read them. The culture around technology seems to be fear-based (fear of cost, fear of vulnerability, fear of people wasting time), which is disappointing. There's also a lot of dysfunction at the senior levels without clarity around strategy. We tend to chase the emergency of the day every day, rather than having a clear long-term focus. This can make it very frustrating for someone who wants to feel like they're adding value by coming into work every day. You never have enough time to focus on a longer-term project and really make a difference. Finally, there is not a lot of opportunity to move into new roles. Many people get stuck in the same departments (sometimes the same roles) for their entire time at Xcel and have to leave the company for new opportunities.