For the last 2 decades, I've worked for about as good a company as you can ask for. It isn't big, and many of the ownership group was related. I know that sets off red flags for some people but when ownership is good, that doesn't matter.
I started off as a front desk clerk with no hotel experience, making $9 in 20 years ago money. Two years later I was at $14.50 with no additional responsibilities, just being rewarded for a job well done. Over time I've averaged a 9% pay increase a year, and that's without getting a pay raise during covid. The majority owners refrained from taking much out of the business, usually less than the average employee, because profit was given as bonuses. I eventually moved up to the top spot and while I still had an owner to answer to, my opinion meant something and I could influence & implement major business decisions. In all aspects, employees came first, before ownership & before customers.
Then they died. The property was sold by their children & now we are a corporate owned property that is doing its hardest to crush the life out of all of us. My responsibilities used to include things that most managers in my spot never do. Now those jobs are done by corporate, at increased cost and time. While the overlords promise they are “here to help,” my requests for help are ignored but the demands for explanations for every decision I make are increasing daily. The worst part is that I don't really need help, just permission, to do the things I've been doing for decades without them.
I'm only hanging on for a few reasons, the pay and my employees. Once they are gone, the pay will be less attractive and I'll leave too. Because the job wasn't the only unicorn that died, but the even rarer loyalty & concern for a business that once loved its employees.