Company Cultures
Small Company or Large Corporation
Are you happier in a small company or a large corporation? There’s a world of difference between large and small work environments: company cultures, structure, pay scale, benefits, flexibility, sense of humor, etc.
It has been my experience that going from working for a small company to a large one takes some adjustments, but the transition isn’t as difficult as going the other way.
Convincing one of my small company or start-up clients to hire someone who has worked exclusively for huge corporations is extremely difficult. Right or wrong, the perception is that if you’ve come from a large corporate environment, you’re used to having a big staff around you. When you run into something you don’t know how to do, well…there’s always someone else there who does know how to do it and will take care of it. Whereas in a small company, you may not have that luxury and you might be it.
Because I’m a firm believer that the world is not simply black and white and you may find some of these flipped and in either environment, you will want to consider:
Salary
Large corporations typically offer higher salaries than small companies. Not always, but when I look at the salaries listed on-line for a geographic area and specific job description I’m always surprised by how far off they are with what I see smaller companies paying. My guess is that the bigger corporations have someone on staff with the time to answer the salary survey. The smaller ones do not. Or only the people who are really proud of their salary are reporting their earnings. Therefore, those figures are always skewed towards the high side.
Benefits
Same as salary. Large corporations have the weight or the pull to negotiate better deals and can offer better benefits, in general. On the other hand, I know of some small companies who feel they need to compete so they pay a larger portion of the benefits for their employees. Or they offer benefits the large corporations can’t. For example, I’ve seen a small company extend paid bereavement leave to an employee because his dog died. I’m not saying a large corporation won’t do that, but it’s less likely.
Structure
One of the main reasons I hear from candidates for wanting to leave a large corporation is they are looking for less structure, less levels to get approval from in order to get anything done. One candidate told me that in order for him to get his broken computer replaced he needed sign-off from four different levels of management. He wanted the ability to walk into the owner’s office and say…I need a new computer and get one.
On the down side of less structure is that many small companies don’t have a regular review process. If you are accustomed to being reviewed annually, receiving some sort of increase regularly, you may be surprised to find that not all companies adhere to this procedure.
Flexibility
Once a company reaches a certain size, they put in more detailed policies and procedures. They have to do this to survive. It’s not that they don’t want to be flexible, but you can’t make exceptions for every employee for every issue. I see more small companies allowing employees to work from home on an as needed basis. Some large corporations are set up to do this regularly, so if that’s important to you, you may want to ask about this one.
It’s important to know what you truly can work with before you target any company and then find that you cannot adapt. Be careful that you fully understand the differences between any company’s environment before you make the change.