Vantaggi
Casual atmosphere, great employees, beer carts A typical day at the office was very busy and hectic, but aside from the pressures of meeting deadlines, the atmosphere was very laid back and relaxed. It wasn't unusual to hear announcements about beer carts, cupcakes in the break room, or another social event or contest coming soon. Management was, for the most part, great. It varied a little from department to department, but most management was an extension of the employees who worked under them. If you did your job, management treated you fairly. The hardest part of my job was leaving it for the last time. The second-hardest part was turning it off when I left the office each day. That was just the nature of the beast with my position, though. There were always so many things in the works, I had a little trouble turning off my mental checklist at the end of the day. The most enjoyable part of my job was the people. Plain and simple. I loved all the challenges and learning opportunities the job brought, but the people I worked with and met through the course of my work made every single day worthwhile. The original owner of the company always said that his employees were his greatest asset, and he was absolutely right, God rest his soul. The CEO is a great person. He's friendly, personable, and he truly cares about the people who work for and with him. Very down-to-earth. He meant a lot to me both professionally and personally. Each quarter, he would take employees who hit their anniversaries with the company out for an "anniversary luncheon" and proudly announce how many years each employee had given to the company, whether it was one year or 25 years. He would total up the sum of those years and smile broadly when he proclaimed that 125 or 150 or 200 years of experience was sitting in the room, and nothing could take the place of that experience. That's likely a thing of the past now. After all the layoffs, I'm not certain that much experience still exists there.
Svantaggi
Inequitable pay, no job security, lots of layoffs, few promotions from within, still a bit of the "good ol' boy" mentality in management When the company was privately run instead of run by investors, it was a great company that cared deeply about its employees, clients, and their families. Profits mattered, yes, but the people who provided the services behind those profits mattered more. Since the end of 2017, however, a majority of employees with 20 or more years on the job have been let go in order to increase profits, regardless of the toll it's now taking on those left behind to do the work (not to mention the toll it's taking on the downsized employees). Quality will suffer in order to increase quantity. A necessary byproduct of the modern corporate world, I guess. Don't get me wrong; I loved my job and would still be there if my position still existed. I love everyone I worked with. I loved the changing challenges that came with every single day. The benefits were great (at the time I left), the pay was decent (a bit below average), the environment was safe and clean, the atmosphere was casual, we mostly were given what we needed in order to do our jobs, and many of us enjoyed a good deal of autonomy in our work, with just a minimum of micromanaging. Overall, it was a good company to work for, but everything has changed since 2017. During the last year or so of my employment, there were numerous reorganizations that left many of the departments shorthanded and disorganized. It wasn't unusual to not even know who you were reporting to, and management changed constantly. There is little job security in these changing times, as many of us there learned. Don't count on being able to retire there. And don't count on being rewarded with loyalty just because you work hard and are loyal to your employer. Unfortunately, those are the most important lessons I learned on the job.