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Is it just me or does it seem like the bigger a company is..the worse they are to work for? I guess when I say corporate America I mean like a Fortune 500 company. Also why does it seem like you are better off working for a private company instead of a public? Do public companies worry about the bottom line too much and are you more likely to just be a number? A private company will generally be a smaller company and possibly have more of a family atmosphere.
OK, seriously. I understand the temptation to label 'big business' as 'evil' but I know of quite a few large corporations that I think have extremely humane practices--family friendly work policies, healthy work environments, active community participation, accommodating professional development opportunities.
While I know lots of small companies that offer these things too, I also know of lots of small business owners who are pretty unpleasant characters--not offering health insurance or other benefits, paying low wages, demanding overtime with no pay or compensation, no professional development opportunities, etc.
I personally really dislike 'family atmosphere' working environments. I've never encountered one that didn't cross the line into inappropriate. Inappropriate sharing of financial data, by both employees and management. Inappropriate personal relationships affecting business decisions and actions. Inappropriate behavior in the workplace. No thank you, I'll take a formal business atmosphere any day. My employers hire me to provide a service and my expertise, and I provide that in exchange for my bi-weekly paycheck. End of!
wanderlust... different companies, regardless of size are going to bear a personality that will influence your perception. I've worked in large corps, small companies, part time, full time, contract, direct.
Some family companies are going to have that 'family' thing going and want you to be a part of it... their family. A large corp may want to know that you're using their gym a couple of times a week, or hitting the Thursday after work happy hour.
The biggest difference I've found in companies is between the big corporation in the sky and the service companies providing the background services.
The big corporation can do a lot for you in wages, benefits, opportunity. The service company can offer a place to grow, learn, become locally valuable, but may pay less.
But like kodaka... where/what ever it is, you're exchanging your time and ability for a dollar value.
The cool thing to do right now is bash big companies. Remember - only the bad ones make the news.
I work for a very large corporation and I am extremely happy with it. I don't think I could survive in a small company atmosphere. I love the 'big corporation' atmosphere.
The cool thing to do right now is bash big companies. Remember - only the bad ones make the news.
I work for a very large corporation and I am extremely happy with it. I don't think I could survive in a small company atmosphere. I love the 'big corporation' atmosphere.
I feel the same way. Less nickle and diming, easier travel arrangements, easier to move around and relocate, usually better benefits - usually better for the average employee. If you're an all-star, then maybe a smaller company would be a better fit - more impact - perhaps more rewards. On the other hand, in a small company, a person might be under more pressure to perform, perhaps more pressure to do unpaid overtime (life is too short for unpaid overtime).
Big companies seem to have a lower standard deviation for merit increases (raises). An average guy gets his 3%, a slacker gets 0%-2%, and an all star might get 5%-6%.
More political clout to maintain jobs and contracts (no politician likes to have a big company lay off 5000 jobs).
More "Plan B"s if "Plan A" gets canceled. My company probably has 20 or 30 programs it works on. If one program gets whacked, my managers can get me on another program.
The value of my benefits is $40,000 in addition to my pay: medical, pension, 401(k), etc.
I've never worked for a Fortune 500, but the best places I've worked for were family-owned. The further up I've gone, the more it's sucked. The one place I'm at now is the first corporate gig I've had and I hate every moment of it. But that's me...
Up side is that the pay is a little higher. Down side is that I'm not in a team (no one really works together even though they're supposed to, they gossip about each other and try to do as little work as possible). I don't like having a job where I can't stand most of my co-workers-it's very difficult for me.
Some of you probably have really well paying office jobs within one of the mega corporations. The problem is in my experience bigger corporations are more likely to screw the little guy than a smaller private locally owned family business. In a mega corporation you're just a number and the average worker has never even met the CEO of the company he works for. At a smaller company you might get laid off but if you're in contact with the owner all the time and he knows you, he/she might give you a month of pay and be truly sorry for having to lay you off. Mega corporation - again you probably never even met the CEO, you get laid off and noone even remembers you, you were just a number. It's all just policy, numbers crunching, the bottom line, yes of course all companies are like that to a degree I'm just saying it's amplified immensely at the mega corporations.
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