Pros
There are several small perks like Friday lunches, casual dress, and nice facilities. The atmosphere has always been low stress and easy to work with others. They also pay all entry fees in sporting events like 5K's and triathlons. Each year we get a generous profit-sharing check on December 15, in time for Christmas. Managers and employees are easy to work with.
Cons
I read the interview reviews and can see what they mean. We do have a long and overly complicated interview process. And it is sometimes conducted by unprepared people with various lines of questioning. I agree that it should be changed dramatically. However, I don't think the interview process reflects the programming or support groups in culture or style. There have also been a handful of complaints about Mike, the CEO. He is a bit brash and whimsical at times. He does change his mind on things and does like to have his hand in lots of projects. While these are not very bad in themselves, he does have room to improve in his delivery of management. Despite these faults I think most reviewers failed to mention one of Mike's greatest strengths. Simply put, he cares about his employees. There is no way to prove it in this medium but consider these facts and give me the benefit of the doubt: 1. He built a memorial gazebo outside the office to commemorate his first employee and friend, Carl Schaer. 2. He gives out an overly generous profit-sharing check each year when he could otherwise distribute it to just the executives. 3. He set the company up as an ESOP in the (correct) hopes that it would make the employees think more like owners. 4. He only hires and promotes managers that have an open door policy because he values input from employees. 5. He takes a regular salary and never wastes company money on fancy hotels rooms, rental cars, etc. When you get down to the details Mike is perhaps an acquired taste personalitywise, but one thing you can count on is the fact that he is reliably nice as a person.
