Big company to little company: Switching employers

How did I get to Small Co? Here are some thoughts and considerations as you move from a large company to a small one:

What it is like to switch companies in general, plus the differences between your big company employer and small company employer?

• Pay: You are hopefully getting more, but you aren't getting your fancy pay notice email anymore. And hopefully you still have direct deposit.
• Benefits: You may even have more vacation, but will you ever get to take it? Do you only have 2 instead of 12 health insurance options? Enjoying only having three 401k investment options? Does your new company even offer a 401k match?
• Vesting: Have another 5 years to go till you fully vest?

There are some benefits besides the better salary, more opportunities etc:

• Performance appraisals: No more 15 page forms to fill out twice a year, just a 5 minute conversation with the President/CEO
• Overhead: There is basically none, as the company can't afford it. There are
  
• Forms: There are none, or if they do exist, you can actually hand them to the real person who approves them. Double-bonus, you already know it'll get approved!
• Approvals: See above. It's much easier to get things approved as you know who does the approving.
  

One major issue is that whereas one (or even 100) person's intense desire to change the company's benefits was a trivial and immediately shot down request before, but now that request is 1/10th of the company's employees.

You'll find that you are (hopefully) enthused by the freedom and your ability to tackle the nearly unending amount of work that needs to be done. But you'll also find it hard to concentrate (create new HR policies? explore new technology for the company to use? write up your thoughts on your last sales pitch to a client?) and focus on the most valuable areas. The amount of "stuff" that needs to be done can be daunting.