the transnational corporation as strange new world.
The topic came up in the office today about people who transition from working for very small companies to working to very large companies and how happy they’ll be in the new environment. Before coming to the MISF, I worked for a series of very small companies, and there are definite advantages and disadvantages.
In a large company it’s nice to not have to worry about things which are peripheral to your job. At all my previous employers, whether it was formally my job or not, I was always the one who fixed the computers. Now, if I’m having a computer issue, I call corporate IT and tell them to fix it. While they’re working on that, I can go get lunch. It’s nice that keeping my computer running, updating software, keeping virus definitions up-to-date, etc. are all someone else’s problem.
On the other hand, since our IT department is at HQ and they have to keep thousands of Windows PCs across the country running, and most of my counterparts don’t have an IT background, it also means that my computer is locked down pretty tight. If I want to so much as update the Flash plugin for my browser, I have to call corporate IT and explain why I need it (because I place Flash designers/developers, duh). I’m stuck using IE instead of Firefox. But it’s not my job to fix it, so it seems like a fair trade. Most of the time. 
The company is large enough that I’m not worried about its ability to make payroll from week to week, as I have been with some of my previous employers. I’m not asked to accept a substandard salary “just until we’re profitable,” and when I need office supplies, I don’t have to track down the CEO’s credit card to pay for them. I just go online to the corporate procurement site, and order them. When telemarketers call and ask to speak to the owner, I get to tell them that we’re traded on an international stock exchange, so we don’t really have AN owner. That’s particularly fun.
On the other hand, the CEOs at my previous jobs were accessible to me on a daily basis. Senior management cared what I thought about the strategic direction of the company, and the management-level hires they made. I had regular face time with the bigwigs and my contributions were routinely recognized. Now, I’m one of thousands of front-line staff. The simple fact of the matter is, senior management isn’t really that interested in what I think about the decisions they make. I’ve never had a manager more than two levels up before, and now my manager three levels up supervises a division which contains 15% of the company’s US employees. He’s a good guy, a real straight-shooter, but he doesn’t have time for me personally most of the time. Fortunately, between that manager and me are two levels of managers who aren’t shy about bragging about their teams, but not everyone has that luxury.
At the small companies I’ve worked for, I’ve known every other employee personally, and when I referred a contact to one of them, I could be confident in the referral. Now I have coworkers across the country, most of whom I have never met and never will. At the same time, when my friend in Chicago needs a new job, it’s very easy for me to look up the appropriate colleague, call his or her office to introduce myself, and give my friend an introduction.
So before making a decision about whether to make the leap from one company to another, it’s really important to consider the differences that may not be immediately noticeable. It’s a real trade-off, and it’s important to know that in advance so that you can make an educated decision about whether the trade is worth your while.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:02 am
Choosing Small Business Payroll Software
Large organisations have full time professional accounting staff to prepare the payroll or the payroll function may be outsourced to a payroll bureau.