My company is a subsidiary of one of the most respected corporations in America. It's well run by people who have a genuine interest in our business so we're securely positioned as an industry leader, which is the key to everything else going smoothly.
This is no mom-and-pop outfit. We have about 20,000 employees in offices all over the country.
We ride out hard times with infusions of capital from the holding company, with no layoffs. When times turn good again we pay the investment back handsomely and we get as much as 25% profit sharing.
As a result it feels like a family. People aren't competing with each other because they don't have to in order to keep their jobs. Everyone is sociable, helpful and tolerant. They're also not afraid to tell you when you're being a jerk or not pulling your load, but they say it as a helpful hint for improvement rather than a gripe. Lots of enduring friendships, romances, and even marriages have started here. Things run smoothly because every time you go to a meeting you're surrounded by friends with a shared mission.
Projects are well run, goals are realistic, and the executives take an interest in process improvement. The company president knows what a Function Point is, we have sized our entire application portfolio, and we're doing project estimates based on our own past performance statistics. Overtime is relatively rare and never draconian, yet projects come in more or less on time and on budget because "planning" is part of our vocabulary. So is "QA," production software failures and cancelled projects are almost non-existent.
Even with the profit sharing, the pay is not outstanding, but clearly that's not as important a concern as sheer job security and job stress not spilling over into family life. We have hundreds of employees with 25 years of service and dozens with 40. We even have people in their 70s who are still working because it's more pleasant to come here than to stay home.
Every year they take an employee survey and analyze the results. People have the same gripes as at any company: not getting promoted, not being listened to, bosses who don't understand their subordinates' work, cancelled training, etc. But on the question, "What is your likelihood of remaining here?" the average answer was 8.5 out of 10.
