Vantaggi
SmartPak has some unique benefits, which are great for riders/horse owners: Rider reimbursement program, employee discount, opportunities to try new products. Subsidized gym membership at a nice gym next door. The office is casual dress, dog friendly and stocked with snacks and coffee. The new summer hours are a great perk, though most of the time you couldn't take advantage of them because you have so much to do, you are staying far past 1pm on Fridays. There are a few amazing managers there, who truly care about their team and want to help individuals grow professionally, as well as personally.
Svantaggi
You have to be wondering why someone would want to give all of that (^^) up - it all sounds so great! But beware, it is a facade that you will soon realize is covering up a real mess. Many managers/department heads have been with the company for their entire careers and have no experience working elsewhere. This leaves the company churning the same incestuous ideas around for the last 5 years. Have a new idea? Great! Keep it to yourself because no one cares and no one is going to take it seriously. If the cult leaders didn't think of it, they'll never entertain it. They'd rather just keep trying the same old, and getting the same bad results. A new C suite member recently joined the team and with him came a glimmer of hope that things would change for the better, and that there might finally be an end to the madness. Unfortunately, that lasted roughly two months before we were back to Groundhog Day. If you need him you can find him locked in his office spitting dip into a coffee cup. There is some major disrespect among teams, and certain team members specifically, who will pass blame for their lack of professionalism onto anyone they can. Nothing is ever done strategically or with purpose, it's a constant hosing of 5 alarm fires with no end in sight. Every day is a repeat of the day before. There is absolutely no trust between departments and again, there are specific individuals that cannot delegate responsibilities or instill trust in teams to accomplish their work, and projects and initiatives will get delayed and reworked over and over again. Meanwhile, the grunts are scrambling to produce something with little direction. Any time something new is attempted, management gets scared and pulls out of the project to revert back to the status quo. I mentioned above as a "Pro" that there are some managers there that truly want to support their reports and help them grow, unfortunately the rest of the company does not feel that way and you'll be stuck with the same crappy salary and lack of opportunities for your entire SmartPak career. Most SmartPak employees are paid more than 50% below the industry average and scraping by with a 1-2% annual raise, if they're lucky.