Vantaggi
Your job is secure. The owner legitimately cares about the employees and even in hard times has refused to lay people off except as a last resort. Also, getting fired for poor performance is almost impossible. The shop floor employees legitimately care and take pride in manufacturing a quality product. When engaged and given a voice, they always perform. There is opportunity to grow professionally and take on additional responsibility if you’re willing. The company puts on a lot of employee appreciation events and is willing to spend money on training.
Svantaggi
Be prepared to manage up. Promotions based on nepotism and seniority have placed ill equipped managers in leadership positions. The inter office politics can only be described as toxic. Getting cross functional groups to act as a team is nearly impossible and simple disagreements seem to fester into resentment and anger for no reason. The cliques hinder communication and are often used to hide problems and create false narratives. The fact that these include many key people allows the few bad apples to run rampant and creates chaos when employees aren’t reined in.