Pros
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Some non-managerial staff are decent people who will hopefully find better opportunities.
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I was able to experience the joy of a nearly $50k raise, getting rid of my commute, and finding an intelligent, capable manager at an awesome company after leaving. You too can set yourself up for this feeling by suffering through some time here and then experiencing the contrast.
Cons
TL; DR: Don't do this to yourself. It's a dumpster fire carefully hidden behind a veneer of professionalism. I cannot sufficiently stress the cultural and practical deficiencies of this company. If you have other options available to you, please take one of them, as I should have done. Unless you are a straight, white, Christian, Trump-loving male who loves nothing more than ingratiating himself with a mercurial, egotistical CEO, there's nothing of real value for you here.
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Misleading interviews and onboarding process: I'm not the first person to feel my work did not align with what I was told I would do. In addition, turnover was understated while lengthy tenures were cherry picked and emphasized. If you're considering [REDACTED], please take this seriously. The interview process exists in an entirely different world from the real company.
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Diversity, equity, and inclusion? Not remotely. You'd be forgiven for thinking you've stepped 30 years into the past here. Management is entirely homogeneous in gender, race, political leanings, etc. – I'll leave it to you to guess in which way. At my first social gathering with the company, one VP had no problem sharing with me that non-Christians can't be morally good. I read and heard consistent feedback from women currently or formerly employed here that they were second-class employees and not taken seriously. One example: Concerns about insurance were ignored because the employee in question should have just gotten benefits from her husband. You know, the real breadwinner. Because he's a man, get it? That said, the fact that women are employed at all is more than what you'll see for other protected groups, who just…aren't there.
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Rigidly hierarchical, paternalistic management structure with minimal mobility: Expect to hear tired cliches about “servanthood” from a CEO who knows very little about it and is apparently God's gift to the recreation industry. Unless you love the self-satisfied bravado and superficial geniality typical of boys-club culture, I assure you it will get old. In the end, you're a child who will do as you're told, and you best do it quickly.
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Middling compensation and limited benefits: Despite the brevity of my tenure, my take-home pay still managed to drop due to increased health insurance costs being passed onto employees. In my department, the compensation philosophy was to stress about people making too much, and to assume that the company could take advantage of a few college students for some low-cost work in a pinch. Complaints about the healthcare coverage could turn into their own novella, so I'll just say it incontrovertibly sucks (bare minimum under the ACA). PTO is minimal. I also learned from conversations with other employees that certain compensation elements they were promised never materialized.
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Not remote friendly: Most employees are compelled to be on site in a drab, uninspiring office in random suburban Midwest business park. There is zero practical need for this outside of the CEO's ego and lack of tech proficiency. If a company has a world-class, custom-built office and a sterling culture, I understand wanting people on site, but neither of those things is true here. Certain employees are allowed to work a hybrid/remote schedule based on some opaque set of criteria. That said, those chosen few shouldn't get too comfortable. I heard regular complaints from the CEO and VP level about remote work, the work ethic of those who see its value, and unsupported doubts about the ability of remote employees to perform quality work.
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Lack of autonomy: If you want ownership, this is not the place to find it. Any real influence is fully concentrated in the executive committee, and you're not on it. The CEO's overinvolvement in minutia compounds the problem. Even if you already have a supervisor, he'll likely find a way to involve himself in your work. With that in mind, if servility to vague, unhelpful critiques is your preferred work style, you'll thrive here.
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Fly by the seat of your pants: Do you love random last-minute drop-by requests when stronger processes and better planning could have prevented them? If so, I'm excited for you, because you've found your people. Organizational maturity is a real weakness, and it will impact you with frustrating regularity.
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No real HR: Should you find that you (reasonably) have problems with any or all of the above, HR doesn't exist. The accounting team (!) performs very limited HR functions on an ad-hoc basis, mostly just when someone is hired. What this means is that you'll need to take your complaints to the only people who have the ability to change anything, who are the same people responsible, and they've already drunk the Kool-Aid.
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Poor office safety culture: COVID might as well have happened in a parallel universe…that is, until the CEO came down with it. At that point, there was a company-wide email about safe practices and signs magically appeared on the door. Nothing changed day to day, of course, and the conference room continued to be packed, but that's none of my business. When one of the trade shows we attended announced a mask policy, management's response behind the scenes was not unlike that of a toddler being told to wear a jacket. Beyond COVID, those working in the warehouse regularly worked maskless with compounds giving off fumes, and other unsafe warehouse practices weren't uncommon. Still reading? Thinking about applying here or accepting an offer? Can't say I didn't warn you.
Advice to Management
Giving advice to management would be a poor use of my time. It's neither welcome nor (if you ask them) needed. Since they're currently growing, “the way we've always done things” reigns supreme. I mean, we all know there's never been a company in the history of capitalism that failed to grow forever, right? In short, expect trouble if you lack obsequious deference to the self-ascribed peerless intellect and managerial prowess of the CEO.