Pros
The opportunity to engage on some dynamic and interesting projects and work with diverse companies.
Cons
Though the owner proudly and repeatedly states the existence of, there is absolutely NO work life balance. If you work internally for this company, you will be told your hours are this, but will continually be requested/required to work before and long after your scheduled timeframes, without any fair matching compensation. You will be told repeatedly and at nauseum “you need to be flexible; I am a small business". Though your opinions and insights are said to be valued, they will most often be dismissed and if ever adopted, acknowledgement, gratitude or any credit for your contributions will be at best, minimal and at worst nonexistent. You will often be pulled into uncomfortable conversations and discussions by the owner about other employees or clients, and if you do not see things the way presented, the owner will often get very agitated, loudly raise voice and sometimes yell (yes, yell) at you. This same abuse also goes for discussions you may have where you were told, noted and wrote one thing down, repeating and confirming what the message was, only to have a true twilight zone experience after some time has passed, when you are then told that what you heard, wrote down and re-verified was NOT ever said. And you will be constantly harassed and bullied by the owner in the most passive aggressive manner possible. There are HUGE HR violations occurring regularly at this company. I have worked many years for large, sophisticated, nationwide organizations and the HR violations I saw while working here, floored me. From requiring new employees to come in prior to their start date, to fill out employment paperwork, with no compensation provided, even though the owner had been informed of this being an illegal process. Being told by the owner that all HR concerns must be channeled through the owner who will then contact HR and have HR contact the employee, and many more HR atrocities. Example, being told that I should take an 8-hr. class, (the owner wanted me to take, that was offered M-F), on a Saturday and when I asked if the company would pay for my time on my day off, the owner stated no, but that I could go during the week and use my vacation time since the company paid me that. Your pre-approved scheduled appointments mean nothing if a "company" event is discovered that the owner wants you to attend. The only reason it was not "discovered" sooner was that (even though advertised weeks or months in advance), the event was not placed on any regularly reviewed appointment calendar with established reminders. A drop and roll attitude is not uncommon in startups, but for a company 7 yrs. old...some larger level of daily, weekly and monthly organization should be expected. Expect to be video recorded, without your permission, and know that you will be audibly audited continually while in the office, whether you agree or not. The amount of micromanagement used by the owner of this company in everyday activities is beyond extreme and the level of disorganization is astounding. There is a very, very high turnover rate for those working directly for this "company", and due to the micromanagement problem, many that are assigned to projects by this company find something else quickly because of the regular mistreatment of the owner and the stress placed on almost every individual working on a company project. Upon starting with this organization, I was informed that the internal "A" Team, (that preceded my hiring), were ALL "let go" prior to my employment with the explanation being that each of them were dishonest and would not perform their jobs. Expect very last-minute changes, and when you try to proactively suggest alternative ways to address these issues on future projects, to be told that the owner has been doing this for a very long time and this is just the way it is, and you just need to be flexible. One face is shown to the outside world and future business opportunities, but a whole other face is saved for those unfortunate enough to work directly for this owner. I wish I could say that the right individual could make a difference, but I cannot. The owner, I believe, is beyond OCD, and brings a huge amount of unnecessary stress to every situation and even though the owner incessantly overstates appreciation for you, ALL actions are ABSOLUTELY NOT aligned with the misuse of those words. There are MANY more grievances and abusive behaviors that I could speak to and about, but I believe this narrative provides the gist of working directly for this person and this company.
