Pros
Some of the most compelling management and leadership insights available to the human race. Gallup has identified many critical and universal truths about managing and leading people. Great co-workers. Substantial autonomy in the day to day work. Frequent and thoughtful recognition. Fun and friendships at work encouraged and enabled.
Cons
Senior Management rarely follows the tenets mentioned above with the exceptions of recognition and employee engagement. As far as engagement goes, there is no connection seen between unpopular decisions dropped suddenly on employees as being the cause of disengagement. The employees themselves are often blamed as "not getting it" and if they are not on board quickly are accused of "not being engageable". It's a fairly sophisticated and educated workforce, people can tell if they are being valued or as of late the painful counterpoint. There are of course upsides and downsides to every company. Some are large, impersonal, and bureacratic which can be a terrible work environment. Some are publicly held which is great for senior leadership accountability but also tends to lead to short term thinking to appease shareholders. Gallup being family owned is one of it's greatest strengths and weaknesses. Complete autonomy but no accountability. Selling a handful of employees some stock in the company does not an employee owned company make. Although the family owns most of the shares and they are employees so technically you could say that it is employee owned. You just need to decide what flavor of downside you prefer, they exist everywhere. There are no perfect employers.