Anyone go from a large company to

[coffeeman]

[translation-give me the cash cuz I don't want to work for it] .

CASH IS KING!! Doesn't matter if your the owner of business, share in an inherited interest or are a worker for the business.

On some business tape I remember the thought; We don't work for someone, we work for ourselves. It's all about finding a comfortable place in life for us and our families. One persons dream job might be **** to another.

Cheers...Coffeeman

 

[schmism]

ahhhhhh 50 employees thats not small!

my wife (an engineer) used to work for a large engineering company with multiple offices across the US. when they decided to shut down the St louis office they offered her a nice package to move. But we didnt want to. At the same time a new opportunity arose to work for a small surveying company (she would become the engineering dept)

she was employee number 4 (behind 2 other family members of the owner) It was a big risk we talked about alot but 5 years later we are perfectly happy with that choice. Makeing THAT move is moving to a SMALL business!

they have grown steadly over the past 5 years and now have a second office and employ about 20 people. Almost half of which have to do with engineering.

my point, if you think its a good opportunity take it. IF your good at your job youll see a direct link to the success of your company and if it still fails, well your good at what you do, you should have no problems moving back to one of the larger companies.

 

[kthompson]

A lot can go wrong in any size company but the small company has some issues. The owner dies, goes bankrupt or such and the company is lost. The owner dies and no plans have been made as to who owns or runs it and along comes someone who destroys it or sells it to a bigger company who buys and closes it just to get market share. Happens.

To help offset some of that owners will sometimes make a key employee part of their contingent plan. Given them some ownership, having buyout option for them if they die and even to the point of having life insurance on the business owner to pay the family. At same time if employee is this valuable will have "key life" policy on that employee to make up for the loss if they pass away.

Will forewarn you not the vast majority of insurance agents work with this. Many life insurance companies may say they can do this but really are clueless. You want to deal with a company who has a legal department to furnish you at least the sample documents to take to your own attorney to review.

 

[charlz]

I worked for a company that size once. Everything was small and homey...until the owner decided he would rather play with his race horses than run the company. Publicly traded company and the board decided to bring in an outside CEO to run the place. Run it into the ground he did.

He had promised the board he would increase the companies revenue by X in Y years. This guy was a &%# so the first thing he did was start letting go 'over paid' employees and bringing in cheaper labor. Such a nice guy he went through like 9 Admin Assistants in 12 months. Switched the highly-seasonal business over to 'just in time inventory' which made recovering from manufacturing mistakes or delays impossible (long lead time product as well as seasonal). Decided that paying the companies bills on 30 day intervals was something 'nobody' did so he started paying on 90 days.... which panicked all the suppliers and everybody put the company on 'cash basis' which compounded any manufacturing problems as now it took longer to get materials and the story goes on... and on and on...

So if you get wind they are going to make 'management changes' you might want to start looking

 

[westcliffe01]

Like many have said, it can be a double edged sword. If the owners are straight shooters who are directly involved in the day to day running of the business and encourage honesty and open dialog, it should be OK.

I have worked for some highly eccentric self made men and in some cases the "seniority" system always won out. The employees who were there back in the day when it was a 5 man operation instead of what is now 30-40 man operation still have sway in the joint. I have battled over outdated job card systems (now MRP), methods of handling cost vs price, inability to delegate / empower people to accept responsibility and with it consequences to crazy things like not being permitted to listen to the radio in a very quiet office environment (not at all), being penalized 1/4 hour for clocking out 1 minute before the hour, when the entire shop is standing in line doing nothing but waiting for the clock to chime and on and on.

I was "sold" to one of our largest new clients after I started a design and project management department and the value of business brought in for design and project management outgrew the rest of the business in 1 year. The owner started having nightmares that I would "get run over by a bus" and he would be left holding the can. He hated not knowing how to review my drawings to figure out if the product would go together and work (a fear based on countless bad experiences with design people who had no idea what they were doing). I never did draw anything that didn't go together or work, but the problem was that in the back of his mind, every next job might be the one.

After I started work at the client, I found vendors in Germany who would make the same products for 1/3 of the price he was getting and so when I started shipping the work out to Germany he got real mad and wanted me "recalled" but my new boss would have none of it...

People are always full of surprises....

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Been thinking about it, might go to a company of one. Years ago I considered going to a "small" engineering company that had one office in an obscure location. Today that company is all over the US, and a couple overseas offices.

 

[Gem99ultra]

There's good and bad in both senerios. First thing you must do is to figure out WHY you're working. If it's simply to make money - the small company probably will not be competitive. If it's self-satisfaction, you'll do better being a big fish in a little pond, so to speak.

I too have gone through exactly what you are now going through. One word of caution, don't ever think that you're a 'part' of the family. Family comes first, and you're expendable. Stay out of the family fueds; don't ever take sides - you'll be the loser every time.

What I learned is that there is no loyalty to employes by either large nor small companies. Get paid for what you do. Promises and a slap on the back don't buy groceries.

So... bottom line? Go where the money is and get your satisfaction elsewhere.

 

[scgargoyle]

I worked 15 years for a big company- 160 on the Fortune 500 at one point. That company is gone now. So much for big company 'stability'. I now work for a company with about 50 people, and we are profitable while much of our competition is folding. If we can continue, we'll keep picking up work from the places that closed. If there's a real economic recovery, we'll be in a very good place indeed. I like the smaller company better- there are a lot less layers of bureaucracy.

 

[riptides]

I think the best mix for me was an employee-owned company. Working for a Fortune 50 company now, I have lost my pension, had my 401k contributions cut, had my salary cut, had my company car benefit revoked, had my bonus structure tweaked, had my stock options revoked and removed and had my vacation carry over removed.

So what benefit does a large company bring? I am still trying to figure that out. I guess to me it is all about the actual work, and some of your customers and co-workers.

Best of luck in your moving forward.

 

[Sigarms]

the small company probably will not be competitive.

I intereviewed with this company last year, not being high on my list, thinking that they were too small to be competitive. I know my market, and they are very competitive in our marketplace. As far as pay and benifits, much better benifits than the last large company I was at, and there is definite potential.

First thing you must do is to figure out WHY you're working.

I love to work, and I'm not independently wealthy.

One word of caution, don't ever think that you're a 'part' of the family. Family comes first, and you're expendable. Stay out of the family fueds; don't ever take sides

Good advice.

If the owners are straight shooters who are directly involved in the day to day running of the business and encourage honesty and open dialog, it should be OK.

One reason why the company interested me. The future owner is a little younger than myself, but we see eye to eye on a lot of things.

Publicly traded company and the board decided to bring in an outside CEO to run the place. Run it into the ground he did.

I NEVER want to hear the term "Sarbanes Oxley" again in my life!

Old company brought in a CEO that they brought up from inside (he replaced my direct supervisors father, who went on to take on an international project, and he had his act together). I was amazed at how many people thought this new guy (CEO) didn't know what he was doing (first hint is that when you send a e-mail off to the entire company and you use spell check, second was his expectations for immediate results, kind of living in a fantasy world).