Pros
I interviewed at Precoa knowing very little about the industry or the company, and I certainly never imagined myself working in the funeral industry. I don't want to imagine what my life would be like had I passed on the opportunity to work here. From entry-level employee to senior management, I can honestly say that the people here care about our customers, our partners, the company, and, most importantly, each other. It's well understood that Precoa exists not only to help clients and partners, but to improve the lives of its employees. Though not perfect in its endeavor, Precoa's good intentions are visible in its policies, managers, projects, and culture. Call me naïve, but there’s no place I’d rather work. I think it might be helpful if I provide some real examples, which I have personally observed, that illustrate my thoughts above: 1) when an employee is moving to a new home, many coworkers volunteer some time over the weekend to come help, 2) after hearing about some recurring dissatisfaction voiced by employees, management commissioned an employee-led, companywide project to identify both the issues and solutions to them, and this was done by consulting the entire workforce (this project is ongoing), 3) cofounder Bret Davis’ office door is always open and you can often find employees chatting with him, you also find him participating in games, service projects, activities and events, 4) companywide meetings consistently finish with a message from president of the company Michael Hornibrook where he candidly shares his passion for the work and his pride in and gratitude for the employees, 5) mistakes, even ones that cost the company financially, are taken in stride and viewed as opportunities to learn by all parties, 6) a manager recognized his team was needed a pick-me-up, so he asked them to stop what they were doing so he could take them out of the office to do something fun, 7) it’s impossible to find an employee who doesn’t know the company’s purpose, vision, mission, and values. Honestly, I could write hundreds of examples because I witness them on a daily basis, but I think you get the picture!
Cons
Like any great company, there’s room for improvement, and I think Precoa would be first to admit it (one of its values is progression). One challenge I’ve experienced working here are growing pains to be expected at a company that is growing from small to midsize, and that also has a group of employees that have been here from when it was a startup. It can sometimes feel like it takes a long time to get decisions made, or that managers don’t have enough time for adequate employee instruction and interaction. These issues though are known and currently being addressed, and I’ve seen honest attempts of management to start trusting responsibilities to more people and connect with their employees (one VP even gave up his office so that he could work side by side with his team, and use the space for collaboration instead). Another area for improvement involves diversity. I read another post on Glassdoor that said something like, “if you’re not Mormon, you can’t move up,” a statement with which I disagree but can see why this person might think that. The company got started by a group of people primarily of the same faith, all of whom (to my knowledge) still work here and have leadership positions. The company also chose to recruit from BYU, so, as you might imagine, diversity is lacking. I think the company can and should take steps to diversify its workforce, not just because society deems it the right thing to do, but because it could benefit from the variety of experiences and ideas that come from a diverse staff. But please don’t get me wrong, I have never witnessed intentional prejudice at an individual level at Precoa, and though I wouldn’t call leadership a “diverse” group, there are leaders at Precoa who are not Mormon, not white, and not male. I was also very pleased to learn that the company chose diversity to be the focus of one of the employee-led, companywide projects later this year.