There are a lot of benefits to being an employee, but what about who you work for? There can be a major difference between working for a small business versus working for a large corporation. Some people will be a better fit in a corporate environment, while others may thrive in a small business atmosphere. No one can say that working for a corporation is always better than working for a small business, and vice versa. It largely depends on the individual and what they are looking for in an employer.
Advantages of working for a large corporation
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Stability – While no job is safe from things like outsourcing and staffing cuts, corporations usually have more stability and jobs are more secure than at a small business. Oftentimes larger corporations are established in their respective business sectors and have the money to fight off competitors who threaten their market share.
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Room to move up – Corporations love to argue that someone can have an entire career at their company without ever having to leave. There is much more room for ambitious employees to move up or to try out new positions in different areas. Conversely, at a small business there may be little room to move up because there simply is not many other positions within the company.
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Benefits – Because of their size, corporations can leverage the size of their work force when negotiating benefits for their employees. They also have the ability to offer employee stock purchase plans (ESPP) while many small businesses are privately owned and not on the market.
Advantages of working for a small business
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Flexibility – In a small business environment, there is often more flexibility when it comes to the time that you work. While this varies from business-to-business, a small business owner is likely to be more accommodating to employees who want alternative work setups such as work-from-home or flexible hours.
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Openness to change – In a small business environment, an employees suggestions are often considered much more than in a large corporation. There are not layers and layers of management that would have to approve a change. Sometimes employees may have direct access to the CEO and oftentimes the CEO will be open to listening to ideas from “regular” employees.
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Work Environment – I have worked at one of the largest companies in the United States, as well as freelanced for a thriving small business that my friend owns. The culture is like night and day. At the small business, there is flexibility I mentioned earlier but also a more casual work environment. Corporations focus much more on management pushing culture down to the employees, and generally a more typical “corporate America” environment that most can imagine even if they have never worked for a large corporation. I think the work environment may be the single biggest advantage that small businesses have in attracting employees.
So which is better in your opinion? Working for a large corporation or working for a small business?
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I work for a small business and I agree with all of these! Flexibility- we are often able to negotiate certain things that would probably be harder to do at a large corporation. For instance, this year they tried to jack up our insurance deductible by $1000. I wrote an emal to my boss detailing why I thought this was a bad deal for everyone and bad for the business. It was never mentioned again!
Openness to change- This one is especially true. If something is not working right, we don’t have to go through several tiers of people to get a change made. There are only 6 full time employees where I work and Greg and I are 2 of them….so it’s easy to get needed changes throg.
Work Environment- I’m sure not all small businesses are this way, but at my place of work we are extremelt spoiled. We are very blessed with somewhat flexible work hours, great benefits, and tons of perks. Since it is sucha small office, our bosses know us very well and I think its makes a difference in the way they treat us. They are extremely generous- they bought my kids more for Christmas than Santa did!
I have never worked fora corporation, but I definitely do enjoy the small office environment.
@Holly at ClubThrifty Thanks for your insight! Nice job fighting back on the deductible.
Geez, I just reread my post. Sorry about the spelling errors!!!
@Holly at ClubThrifty I didn’t even notice, I read this at like 6am : )
I work at a small business (an investment banking firm). I prefer it this way. My work and income are stable and there is still room for me to move up as I am training to be the President.
@SenseofCents Wow, that’s awesome!
Benefits at a large corporation aren’t necessarily better. I work for a small company, Mr. PoP for a large one, and my benefits are usually on par, or better than his with a similar cost structure to the employee.
@Plantingourpennies Yes, it totally depends on the company. I’d say my benefits at the large corporation I work at are superior than a high majority of small businesses. But I’m generalizing, of course.
Great points. Having worked in both I definitely prefer the small business model. You’re right that, in general, the benefits at a large corporation are better. But, the benefits at a small business, in general, are much more intangible…like the flexibility and openness to change you wrote about. The other thing I liked about being in a small business was that if I thought something could/should be done and I could make my case then I could run with it. It’s much more difficult to do that at a large corporation as you generally have so many layers to deal with.
@FrugalRules Thanks for the insights!
It sounds like you all have had great experience with small business! I really like the idea of working for a small business, but you have to be careful who you work for. I just got out of a situation where the owners refused to give any direction (even when directly asked) but then were displeased with my work. They also expected a LOT more out of me than was fair for the pay I was receiving. And since it was a small business, there was no supervisor or HR department to talk to. In some sense, I feel like you are more “protected” in a large corporation even if things are a bit more rigid.
@christineslittleblog I would have to agree with you! At large corporations, there is a LOT of structure, but with a large HR department it is much easier to protest a review or even move to a whole new department if you need to.
I have worked for both a large and small company and prefer the smaller a lot more. Most of the time advancement in large corporations is based on politics. Who can kiss ass the most. Sorry but that is not me. I like to be rewarded because of job performance.
@OneSmartDollar Thanks for the input, I think it varies on the company as well.
I think both have their advantages and disadvantages. I would probably prefer the small business though. It’s nice knowing that you aren’t just a number and that your voice matters.
@DebtnTaxes I’d say at some small businesses your voice doesn’t matter, tho. It really depends on the business.
I like aspects of both – best is when you can get the small company vibe within a larger company. When I worked at a software development office of a large financial institution, it was perfect. The software arm operated almost autonomously (they started out as a small start-up and was acquired later by the bigger company) but they got the salary and the benefits of a big name financial company.
@OutlierModel That’s a really cool setup and I think that it would be fun to work in that sort of environment.
I like a bit of both as I find with the big organization yes there is room to move up and potentially great benefits but you might not really like going to work as much as a small organization with that family like atmosphere. Great post… posted for my FB fans. Mr.CBB
@CanadianBudgetB Thanks! Appreciate you posting this on facebook. Also, I totally agree, pros and cons all over the place.
Just last night a co-worker was mentioning how much she likes working in the private sector now, after the public sector. Not 100% what you’re asking, but I think still relevant? There are definitely pros and cons to both. I miss the simplicity and lack of red tape of small business. I like the strength and dollars of large business.
@Ugifter Oh definitely public vs. private can be very different. I might have to write a post on it ;)
I think it depends on who you work for and what the work environment is like. Big companies have better benefits than very small companies. But they can be soul crushing. Of course, an overbearing boss in a four-employee shop is a tyrant too.
Mid-sized companies also have benefits of both. I work at a company with about 300-400 people. We are “small” enough where its flexible and the work environment is VERY relaxed… while at the same time, the business is growing, so there are a lot of areas to move up in.. and luckily my company just offered ESPP too. Good points DC, you pretty much hit them all.
I’ve worked for both as well and while I did LOVE the benefits that the large corporation was able to offer, I found that when working at a smaller place I was tasked with a larger scope of responsibilities. At a large corporation everyone’s job is much more specific and many times there is little room to expand what you do without moving to a different position within the company. I love variety so a smaller place made me a lot happier.
I am taking advantage of everything, so I would say big companies are ideal for me. Retirement plan, incentives, I take it all! In a small company, if there is already a CEO and a CFO and a COO and I don’t know what other C, it may be difficult to move up, so definitely big companies!
I’ve done both. It is an interesting comparison but I can’t say one is better than the other. They were very different businesses so I can’t really compare them fairly.
My brother and the his friend are co-founders of Mixbook.com. And from the outside looking in it seems starting with a star-up company allows you to grow with the company. It’s pretty remarkable.
After seeing both sides in one household I completely agree with your post. Currently I work for a small family owned restaurant while my wife works for a large multinational corporation.
She has great benefits; insurance, 401k, and paid time off. However, she has very little chance to influence the company in any major sort of way.
I get no paid time off or any real benefits. However, my schedule is very flexible and I can basically dictate when I want to work. I also have the owner’s ear nearly everyday and have helped to make the place a better business.
Hands down small business any day of the week, any time. I would rather lop off my big toe than work for a big corp. Well, maybe not that dramatic, but you get the point.
Another great thing about working for a small business is that you often get more responsibility more quickly. It’s great for those of us that like to continue to learn new things.