Pros
Free onsite parking and business casual dress code. Modest annual bonuses attainable (at least in part.) 401k plan.
Cons
The corporate finance department is an unneccessarily tense work environment, lacking inspiring leadership, respect and professionalism. Throughout the corporate building there are way too many employees more than happy to tell you how unhappy they are working here. This company's finance department has a long-standing reputation as a place where careers go to die; where costs are suppressed via turnover. This seems to be supported by the actions of the CFO hired in 2008. Under his tenure the company has had in this department's senior positions at least: Six Controllers, Four Human Resource Managers, Three Payroll Managers and Three Recruiting Managers. (I spelled out the numbers so you would know they are not typos.) Raised voices and negative comments about superiors, peers and subordinates from him are par for the course and help create the bad environment. Success in the junior positions (a/p, a/r clerks, junior accountants) is generally represented by working mothers adept at handling high volumes of work. At this level there have been people who have quit after a week, or gathered their things at night and left, never to return. Some survivors have been there 3-5 years or more; in fairness, some have left the company due to family need or moves and actually returned, but, then again, there is such a thing as the Stockholm Syndrome. All in all, it seems better to be a woman working in this department than a man. Compensation seems middling to below average; raises are modest but benefits weak. There are modest bonus potentials and a 401k plan. Workplace hours are 8:30am-5:00pm with a half hour break for lunch. Expect to be putting in 1-2 hours overtime daily. Putting in long hours looks to be held in higher regard than productivity; if you're leaving before 6-6:30 on anything more than once in a blue moon you will start to feel are being looked at differently.. Employees must take vacation days if they stay at home due to blizzards, hurricanes, etc. Remote work is really not an option and you will feel like you had better be immediately caught up when you are able to return to work. The work-place is presented as fast-paced. Having worked at truly challenging, fast-paced firms, I would disagree. If anything, this workplace is high volume. Annual reviews (for those who make it that far) are laughable and demoralizing. The CFO denies the highest ranking so your highest possible "score" makes you seem, at best, like an average staffer. It is imperative that you keep track of your accomplishments as you are unlikely to have them recognized in your evaluation. Make sure they get noted or else you will wonder if someone else is taking credit for your work. Management in other departments seems sane, though to me is not particularly dynamic/impressive. As anywhere, there are some prima donnas, particularly on the sales side. The president/owner is the perfect moral complement to the CFO; he has a lot of opinions but seems to back down rather quickly once confronted with facts.
