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    Small Company vs Large Company Considerations


    I work in the high-tech industry, designing semiconductors. Last year at about this time, I left a fairly successful mid-sized company to work for a startup. A couple weeks after starting, I developed my first MS symptoms, and by summer my neurologist (an MS specialist) concluded that I have MS. He started me on Copaxone in June. What I discovered during this time is that startup health and insurance benefits are a lot worse than the benefits I had left behind. I now have a lot of out-of-pocket expenses ($3000 for MRIs!), my company-provided life insurance is for a much smaller value, and there is less disability and no long-term-care insurance. I also took a big pay cut when going to the startup, which as I understand things could come back to bite me if I were to go on disability, since I believe disability payments are based on salary history.

    After the initial shock of the medical news wore off, I considered my career situation and concluded that given my health expenses and the uncertainty of my work future, startups don't make sense for me anymore. I'm now considering a job change to a large company. I currently have offers from two large companies, both with excellent benefits. But the new wrinkle is that my startup is in the midst of a personnel crisis of sorts, and the CEO is getting creative about trying to find ways to keep me. Creative enough that I'm thinking about it.

    So my point in posting this is to get some input on important factors I should be considering in this large-vs-small company discussion. If the company you work for goes out of business, where does that leave your insurance coverage? What happens if you're on disability at the time? Am I overreacting to this uncertainty?

    I have a couple books on insurance issues and chronic illnesses, so I'm doing my own research, but any tips and words of advice from the fine members of this forum would be appreciated.

    FYI, my MS symptoms are currently very mild, consisting mostly of some occasional weakness in my left leg. But I'm deeply worried about progression, especially in cognitive skills, given the nature of my work. I went through cognitive screening last fall, and the only sub-par results were in short-term (working) memory. It wasn't bad enough for the neuropsychologist to conclude there was a problem, but I'm concerned.

    /Scut


    #2
    How many employees in your small company? Are you on a group health insurance plan or not? Are they willing to match the pay and benefits of the large company? And if so, how confident are you that they will survive the long haul?

    Are they growing? Hiring new employees? Aggressively marketing the company? Do they have a good sales staff?

    There's a lot to consider and I've been in your shoes.

    I now work for a very large telecom company. I was a part owner of my own but it was expensive to provide benefits on a small scale. I get wonderful benefits now but the pay and hours are not as good. I love my new job though.

    With a chronic illness we have extra things to consider or course.
    Take care, Wiz
    RRMS Restarted Copaxone 12/09

    Comment


      #3
      Not too small

      Originally posted by ewizabeth View Post
      How many employees in your small company?
      About 75.

      Originally posted by ewizabeth View Post
      Are you on a group health insurance plan?
      Yes.

      Originally posted by ewizabeth View Post
      Are they willing to match the pay and benefits of the large company?
      Pay is probably negotiable (though they certainly don't match it now), but I suspect they have less flexibility in matching benefits, since my understanding of group plans is that they'd have to provide extra benefits to everyone. That sounds really expensive.

      Originally posted by ewizabeth View Post
      And if so, how confident are you that they will survive the long haul?
      Conventional wisdom is that startups have about a 10% chance of succeeding. This one has passed many early hurdles, so the odds of surviving in the long haul are probably more like 60-70%. But who knows. It's probably this risk of the company going belly-up that has me most worried.

      Originally posted by ewizabeth View Post
      Are they growing? Hiring new employees? Aggressively marketing the company? Do they have a good sales staff?
      Things are pretty good here. But it's a tech startup, so fortunes change rapidly. For example, there are some aggressive competitors that could come out with a comparable product and take our profit. One never knows.

      Originally posted by ewizabeth View Post
      There's a lot to consider and I've been in your shoes.

      I now work for a very large telecom company. I was a part owner of my own but it was expensive to provide benefits on a small scale. I get wonderful benefits now but the pay and hours are not as good. I love my new job though.

      With a chronic illness we have extra things to consider or course.
      Yep. The good news is that in my case, the large companies pay well and have interesting work. But startups offer the chance (however slim) of big bucks, and lots of excitement. And now an extra heaping of guilt about leaving.

      I guess another thing I don't need is stress, which startups tend to have in spades...

      /Scut

      Comment


        #4
        Well you can't let the guilt of leaving them influence you. I stayed too long with my last job and it caused me a lot over stress. I made good money but the headaches were huge. I wish I could have started with my current job about five years ago but I'm glad to be here now anyway.

        Maybe you should do what's best for you? Good luck with whatever you choose.
        Take care, Wiz
        RRMS Restarted Copaxone 12/09

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by ScutFarkus View Post
          The good news is that in my case, the large companies pay well and have interesting work. But startups offer the chance (however slim) of big bucks, and lots of excitement. And now an extra heaping of guilt about leaving.

          I guess another thing I don't need is stress, which startups tend to have in spades...
          From my perspective, I see it as "its all memories" now.

          But I am grateful that I do have such memories because as a young man I did lots of great stuff, like a couple of start-ups myself (none worked), etc.

          However, now that I am married with three screaming children ages five and under, the only breadwinner in the household, and a very professional job, I accept that it is all memories. And I am glad that I had them and I am thrilled that I made the decisions back then to experience those things.

          But it also depends if there are things you are responsible for, like mouths to feed, etc.

          Comment


            #6
            The good news is that it sounds like you are very employable which definitely buys you leeway. Personally I've always chased the dollar.

            If your start-up is willing to fork over enough to make up the difference in your out of pocket medical expenses and you enjoy the excitement I'd stay but definitely put away enough money to float you on COBRA should something unexpected happen until you can get another position with group benefits. Good luck.
            He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
            Anonymous

            Comment


              #7
              Thanks everyone

              Thanks for the advice.

              It seems the situation may be resolving itself: the "make me stay" incentives never materialized, and the situation at the start-up is getting progressively more dire. I'm pretty sure these two facts are closely related.

              So I'm getting the heck out of there!

              Now I just have to choose between the large companies, but this is a good-to-have problem, so I'm not complaining.

              /Scut

              Comment


                #8
                Start-up company failure

                I also live in the Silicon Valley. My husband worked for a start-up company near Great America in Santa Clara that closed down when they could no longer find funding. We had been receiving our benefits through his employer.

                We have learned that when a company completely shuts down COBRA is not available. You must find insurance on your own in the private market. You need to do this within 63 days of losing your insurance coverage. Otherwise you will have a gap in coverage and it makes things even worse. As you can imagine this is not an easy feat when you have a pre-existing condition. My husband is a colon cancer survivor and I have MS.

                First I would contact the company with whom you currently have coverage and see what programs they might have. After that I suggest an insurance broker be contacted. Ask about the "guaranteed issue" programs. That is what we did. We ended up with Blue Shield of California. It is exorbitantly expensive but I am immensely grateful to have it.

                As a last resort you can contact the CA Dept. of Insurance and inquire about their high risk pool programs.

                Personally as to the large vs. small company issue I would go with a larger company. It would generally provide more stability and better benefits.

                Good luck. Keep us posted on how things go for you.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Big company for me now...

                  Originally posted by jessiesmom View Post
                  I also live in the Silicon Valley. My husband worked for a start-up company near Great America in Santa Clara that closed down when they could no longer find funding. We had been receiving our benefits through his employer.

                  We have learned that when a company completely shuts down COBRA is not available. You must find insurance on your own in the private market. You need to do this within 63 days of losing your insurance coverage. Otherwise you will have a gap in coverage and it makes things even worse. As you can imagine this is not an easy feat when you have a pre-existing condition. My husband is a colon cancer survivor and I have MS.

                  Personally as to the large vs. small company issue I would go with a larger company. It would generally provide more stability and better benefits.

                  Good luck. Keep us posted on how things go for you.
                  Thanks for the information. I'm sorry to hear about your difficulty getting insurance (and, of course, your reasons for needing insurance). I think most people are surprised that COBRA benefits end with the company, so it's good to get this information out there.

                  I decided to play it safe and go with the large company, and that's where I'm working now. This new company is about 300x the size of the startup I left, so it's quite a change! But boy, the insurance benefits sure are a lot better. They don't yet offer LTC (Long Term Care) insurance, but I'm hoping that will change.

                  It's funny that you mention a startup near Great America. I've worked at two different startups near Great America, off Mission College Blvd. Neither did very well in the end, though it was fun. That area seems to be a hotbed of small companies.

                  /Scut

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by ScutFarkus View Post
                    I decided to play it safe and go with the large company, and that's where I'm working now. This new company is about 300x the size of the startup I left, so it's quite a change! But boy, the insurance benefits sure are a lot better.
                    /Scut
                    Scut, how are things turning out for you working for this large new employer?

                    The reason I am curious is that I have observed the huge difference of the corporate culture. My employer just fired me but because they are such a large outfit there was a protocol that they had to use; which was like around five weeks or so with a weekly review on my performance.

                    And I also completely agreed with the course of action that my employer pursued. A less professional place would have immediately fired me. If someone cannot do a highly complex job then they don't deserve to be there. Also, I would have done the same thing too.

                    I think I am getting a much better handle on cognitive issues; so I won't stumble in the next opportunity. I had vastly improved my job performance but there is no way to take away a bad impression.

                    My PCP also explained that it is not a good idea to try to use any protections of the law because that opens up the entire world to your medical records. I feel that is a good approach because absolutely no one knows about this disease and I want to keep it that way for as long as I can. Also, since everybody knows at least someone at a different company in the industry I am in, I need to keep quiet on my health and gain a better grasp of what my physical, mental, and cognitive abilities and limits are.

                    I don't think I have lost my analytical faculties but I need to find ways or web sites where I can measure and test the cognitive part of me.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      So far, so good...

                      Originally posted by RavenousWolf View Post
                      Scut, how are things turning out for you working for this large new employer?
                      So far, the new employer is working out very well. I kind of doubled-down with my job change, because not only did I transition from a tiny company to a very large one, but I also changed job focus from HW to SW. I've always tended to work near the border where HW meets SW, so it's not quite as drastic of a change as it sounds, but it has put me somewhat outside my comfort zone. So I'm not only trying to make a good impression at a new company, but also compensate for a relative lack of direct experience in SW.

                      Originally posted by RavenousWolf View Post
                      The reason I am curious is that I have observed the huge difference of the corporate culture. My employer just fired me but because they are such a large outfit there was a protocol that they had to use; which was like around five weeks or so with a weekly review on my performance.

                      And I also completely agreed with the course of action that my employer pursued. A less professional place would have immediately fired me. If someone cannot do a highly complex job then they don't deserve to be there. Also, I would have done the same thing too.
                      Egads, sorry to hear about that. But I must say, you seem to be taking it remarkably well. Small companies can deal with performance issues in all sorts of unfortunate ways, including ignoring them and hoping they go away, or trying to get the person to leave using backhanded means, or just firing them, though I think that latter approach isn't so common anymore due to legal liability. It's much better when companies have a good process in place to work with people so nobody is surprised or feels shafted.

                      Originally posted by RavenousWolf View Post
                      My PCP also explained that it is not a good idea to try to use any protections of the law because that opens up the entire world to your medical records. I feel that is a good approach because absolutely no one knows about this disease and I want to keep it that way for as long as I can. Also, since everybody knows at least someone at a different company in the industry I am in, I need to keep quiet on my health and gain a better grasp of what my physical, mental, and cognitive abilities and limits are.
                      Yes, I've been keeping my MS a secret, too. I think if I ever felt like some sort of accomodation would really help me do my job, I might disclose to HR and take my chances, but for now I think the risks of disclosure outweigh any benefits.

                      Originally posted by RavenousWolf View Post
                      I don't think I have lost my analytical faculties but I need to find ways or web sites where I can measure and test the cognitive part of me.
                      Have you take this test? http://www.neurology.ufl.edu/memory/cognitivetest.shtml

                      Good luck with your future employment!

                      /Scut

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Scut

                        Pretty cool test.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Your thread caught my eye as I work in SW at a SJ start-up. Everything I am reading is solidifying my decision to keep my MS to myself. Anyway, loved the cognitive test! Thanks for posting.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by ScutFarkus View Post
                            I kind of doubled-down with my job change, because not only did I transition from a tiny company to a very large one, but I also changed job focus from HW to SW. I've always tended to work near the border where HW meets SW, so it's not quite as drastic of a change as it sounds, but it has put me somewhat outside my comfort zone. So I'm not only trying to make a good impression at a new company, but also compensate for a relative lack of direct experience in SW.
                            The reason why I have had an avid interest in ScutFarkus is that he is a EE. I am not an engineer but my career is in technical writing. I started off in my profession documenting software and then halfway I took a huge leap into documenting integrated stuff (where the software controls the hardware) which worked out really well because I got learn so much from the EEs I worked with (and a huge increase in pay).

                            The job I just got the axe in was the first time in my career where I solely worked on hardware so I completely understood what Scutfarkus meant about "somewhat outside my comfort zone" because that was the situation I was in; although it was the exact opposite because my strength was software.

                            It is pure insanity to parse out what I did wrong and what I should have done; but I now have a much better understanding of my missteps about working "outside my comfort zone" so I don't want to pin everything on MS. I also need to nurture a better understanding of the mindset of an EE when everything revolves around solely on hardware. Years ago I didn't mind learning new software or taking a weekend class at a community college; interestingly, everybody in those weekend classes were almost identical in my pursuit - a degreed professional with a professional day job but wanting to learn additional skills to move up the corporate ladder.

                            More than the MS, I think I lost that "innate" initiative when I began taking everything for granted in steadily rising up the corporate ladder (especially when so much was contingent on a technical expertise). So Scut, keep us informed about your progress with your new job. Outside of the medical issues, your transition to a new job focus is quite illuminating.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Confused

                              Howdy folks,

                              Do you know if this cognitive test is very accurate? I've taken it a couple times now have scored low both times.

                              I was diagnosed with MS earlier in the year while I was unemployed. I've recently taken a new job (only about 2 months ago) at a start up and find that I'm confused and can't seem to process my work fast enough or even handle the shifting priorities. It's a fast paced environment, which I thought I could handle but now I'm not so sure.

                              I don't want to quit after starting so recently, but I already feel like I'm a liability and can't handle the stress load.

                              Does anyone have a similar experience or advice?

                              Comment

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