Working For The Little Guys
It may seem counter-intuitive to prefer to work for a smaller company rather than a large multi-national with branches all over the world but many graduates and jobseekers are doing exactly that. One important reason for this is job security; with the ongoing global economic situation, many larger companies are being forced to downsize and actively reduce numbers of employees whereas smaller companies have a finely tuned sense of how many employees are necessary and are therefore unlikely to need to cut back.
There are a host of other benefits to working for a smaller company though and one of these is greater job satisfaction. Employees at smaller companies feel more satisfied with their work, probably because they can see and benefit from the effects of their own work. A salesman making a big sale in a small company boosts profits for everyone, raises morale, and is treated as something of a hero. In bigger companies sales are handled by entire departments and individual excellence can be overlooked.
Bigger companies can be quite depressing places to work, especially if employees like to express themselves and show a little individuality or take the initiative from time to time. Large concerns tend to have business-like dress codes, or even uniforms, with little scope for freedom of expression. Company processes and policies are usually enforced with little leeway for change. Smaller companies allow an individual’s best characteristics to be displayed to good advantage and also make it harder for mediocre or poor performing employees to get away with being dead wood. Working for a smaller company feels more like working for a family; everyone knows each other and can learn to work around flaws and foibles, instilling tolerance in fellow employees.
Large companies tend to have precisely defined job definitions and boundaries which can prevent an employee gaining an all-round understanding of how the company works. Small companies generally have loose job descriptions and most contracts will contain a catch-all phrase along the lines of ‘help out in other departments when necessary'. Some small companies even insist on new employees working for a few days in all the other departments so that they can get a clearer understanding of how the whole company works and see exactly how and why their particular skills are so important to the business. This will help ambitious employees to gain a full understanding of all aspects of business and aids the business by showing all employees how their contribution is valuable and necessary.
Small companies are beginning to expand into cyber space, allowing employees to work from home using Cloud computing services and VPNs. It will be harder for large companies to make the change from large offices with heavy emphasis on set working hours and fixed expenses, than for smaller companies who tend, from necessity, to be more adaptive and flexible in order to survive. Working for a small company may be the best step forward in career-seekers plans.