Pros
I work with great, dedicated people who have passion for their jobs. In the past 24 months we have undergone an evaluation of our human resource management and implemented many changes with the goal to make M.S. Rau Antiques an even better place to work. We've examined salary levels to determine we were in line with our marke and, if not, get ourselves in line. We've added a HR consulting company and have a representative onsite weekly to meet with staff, consult, train and guide. We are 106 years old and realize that we must keep evolving to keep up so we try to do that in all aspects from human resourced to technology to marketing.
Cons
Like most businesses, we have periods where stress is elevated due to seasonal sales cycles, business travel, events, etc. but we tend to know these are on the horizon and plan for them. In the past, I don't think we have done as good a job as we could have in helping our staff with their jobs, our culture and their careers but I believe we have made great strides toward that. Like one of the previous posts, we are like many smaller companies (under 50 employees) who can't offer the upward mobility that many larger companies do. We do, however, offer all the lateral mobility that anyone may want and reward appropriately for that extra effort.
