family-owned business has its pros and cons
Pros
My experience at the Ford AV corporate office was by and large a good one. I appreciated that I was able to give feedback to my boss and have it reach the president and CEO of the company, and as a result was able to change some inefficient forms and processes during my time with the company. That was satisfying. My supervisor was really great and was the main reason I was sad to resign when I got another job offer. She really tapped into my skills and tailored the job position to my particular strengths, and allowed me to delegate other, more menial, tasks in my job description to other coworkers. I didn't see a clear path of advancement in my administrative position, but felt like they might just let me keep doing what I was doing with incremental pay and responsibility increases, which wouldn't have been half bad. The work/life balance in my position was pretty good. They didn't expect us administrative employees to work overtime except for maybe once or twice a year during special events, and once I left work, I didn't have to think about my job until I came back the next morning. Perks of being a non-salaried office worker, I suppose. My fellow employees were mostly a down-to-earth and decent bunch, although not "my kind" of people (i.e., I wouldn't want to hang out with them at lunch or off the clock.) I felt like I was able to make a difference in the workplace and earned the respect of those I dealt with in the company (engineers, technicians, project managers, and the like) which was enough for me.
Cons
They don't offer much in the way of company culture or perks. They keep the company very lean. You get free health insurance after 5 years of employment, but that's the only big perk that any full-timer can achieve, if you stick around long enough. They're somewhat miserly with pay and pay increases, at least in my department--I had been with the company for about 15 months before I received my first official review. Don't expect fun parties (they are mostly potluck affairs held in the warehouse, not terribly festive) or many bonuses either. People who work directly on projects (engineers, etc.) get profit sharing checks on a regular basis, which sounded exciting, but I can't attest to that perk because it wasn't extended to admin workers, no matter how many hours we spent working on a specific job. And yes, like another reviewer noted, you're expected to help clean bathrooms, dust the cubicles, sweep the floors and whatnot. I never saw any sort of cleaning staff on site at the corporate office, though I know someone must've been doing some general cleaning in that place. For all I know, Mr. and Mrs. Ford scrubbed toilets after we all left the building at night. (I wouldn't be surprised, honestly.) Luckily most of the floors are cold, sterile, sealed concrete so it's pretty easy to clean up after yourself! Also, the bad satellite radio stations they piped through the ceiling speakers all day long drove me slightly batty. It's not a grocery store, you know? But maybe that's just me. Personally, I find that bad pop music is more distracting than anything (although it was pretty amusing to hear manly coworkers singing along with Taylor Swift.) I also yearned for natural light at my desk. The other side of the 2nd floor office had a nice bank of windows but that was so far away. Sometimes I would find errands to run just so I could take a stroll around the office and pass by the windows. More than once I emerged from the building at 5pm and was shocked by the weather. Like I mentioned in my "pros" section, coworkers were generally nice, but also fairly standoffish in sort of a midwestern way. People are cordial, but not terribly friendly. Engineers, sales staff, and HR seemed downright cliquish. I was friendly and often ate in the lunch room where I tried to engage others in conversation, but finally gave up on making any friends at the office.
