Vantaggi
Bright, clean atmosphere. Plenty of windows with a view of the hustle and bustle of Chicago's major highway. Very good health benefits package with company matching of health savings account contributions, 10 sick days. 401k after 2 years, very lenient about vacation time/personal days. Generally laid back atmosphere at Particle Audio.
Svantaggi
Most employees at Particle Audio end up taking advantage of the relaxed atmosphere by milling around most of the day and chatting to no end when business is slow. The owners favor certain employees and although they try to create an ostensible "family" atmosphere, that veil is eventually lifted when you find out that you are just another expendable cog in their high stakes chess game of a business. New equipment was favored to certain employees, as was personal support and attention.
There are too many management (producer) employees and not enough experienced creative engineers to actually bring work in. The company creates this utopian ideal of one section helping the other and all the engineers splitting bonuses, gaining no commission, and supporting each other for the greater good. This never happened in my time there. I think the owners painted that pretty, safe picture to draw me in when they hired me, but the environment soon became just like every other studio in Chicago, just without many of the benefits of commission or an established reputation.
And the owners seem to love making large renovations and creating new side businesses in the company with little foresight into the practicality or financial return of those ventures with respect to their cost. During my time there, I saw almost a total renovation of their parent company's space, a new voice booth installed, and a new company created within the parent umbrella - all during a sharp economic downturn for business.
I know this could be a "Pro" for the employees, but the amount of money that is wasted in this company definitely portends its demise. Tens of thousands spent on furniture, excessive perks for clients like sports season tickets, free internal lunches almost every day, and virtually unmonitored use of credit cards. No studio I know in Chicago is this irresponsible with its money. Especially when they have to put off making necessary purchases, like updating equipment, because of money concerns.