Pros
- You get to work with some great people with a wealth of industry experience. - The company is investing in technology and is working to create new programs to increase productivity and organization. - There is great potential for the company to be successful, if a few key things go right. - The schedules are relatively flexible. If you would like to come in a little early or a little late, you can adjust your start time with supervisor approval. - If you are a great and dedicated employee, they will let you transition into part-time telecommuting, and potentially full-time telecommuting. They will let you full-time telecommute with little-to-no experience if they are desperate enough. - They have regular visits from an ergonomics consultant and will buy you ergonomics products if you need them.
Cons
- The wages are low and the benefits are not great. - The ravenous desire for productivity has come at the expense of quality and customers are noticing. - Salaried employees are not given sick days and are told to not come in if sick, but will still be paid. Management uses this as an excuse to force salaried employees to work significant amounts of unpaid overtime. Hourly employees are not given sick days and do not receive pay unless they use a personal or vacation day. - There is very high employee turnover, which means an incredibly large amount of time is dedicated to training new people on very-specific, highly-skilled work. It also means there's a chance your favorite colleagues may not be around for long. - There are no annual cost-of-living adjustments to salaries. Merit-based pay raises are not guaranteed from year to year. Even the best employees barely get a raise much higher than the rate of inflation. - There are no end-of-year bonuses. The salary on your contract is the salary you (hopefully) get. - The Waterbury, VT location is in the middle of a small, highly-touted resort town. There is great dining and drinking, but the proximity to a number of ski resorts (which you probably cannot afford working here) drives up the price of everything. If you want to live in a town with reasonable housing and convenient entertainment and shopping options, it involves a 15- to 30-mile commute. It can be great during the summer, but the state blows through its plowing budget mid-January and winter doesn't end until late April.
