Let's hear some positive stories about employers!

In My Humble Opinion
1

Maybe I’ve been spending too much time in the Pit, but many people seem to have their story about an evil employer. In the interest of balancing things a bit, I’m requesting positive stories about employers.

I’m a senior student at Massey University, and I tutor first-year computer science students part-time. This job involves hovering around a computer lab for an hour with two other tutors and appearing ‘available’ to help about 20 students who are working on a set worksheet. My employer is Rosemary - the head tutor for the paper and an all-around nice lady.

The first few times I did this job, I was about 5 minutes late for the sessions. This was because the bus timetable was out-of-date and didn’t take Palmerston North’s increasing traffic into account. I apologised to Rosemary and said that I’d start waking up earlier so I could catch an earlier bus. Rosemary said that the first five minutes didn’t matter anyway, and I shouldn’t change my lifestyle to get there on time (I did anyway, so now I arrive at Uni about half an hour earlier than I need to).

One time, a couple of friends and I had finished a major assignment, so we thought it would be a good idea to have a few drinks. “A few” turned into “far too many”, and when my alarm went off the next morning (when I had tutoring to do), I was in no state to get out of bed. I figured that I could afford an extra hour of sleep (by forgoing my shower and breakfast), so I set the alarm to an hour later. I must have forgotted to actually switch it back on, though, because it didn’t go off, and I slept right through the sessions I was meant to be tutoring. Later that day, I got both an email and a phonecall from Rosemary asking what happened. But she wasn’t angry or disappointed - she was actually concerned that something serious has happened. I told her that my alarm didn’t go off (the truth, but not the whole truth). She said that was OK, and she didn’t bring the issue up again.

Oh, and one more thing - the tutors have weekly meetings that usually last 15 minutes, or half an hour at the most. But every time, she tells us that we met for an hour for the purposes of our timesheets.

So, any other stories about good employers?

If any employers are reading this, just remember to try to treat your employees well. If employees are happy, they tend to take pride in their work. After I made those slip-ups, I made a special effort to get there in time and I haven’t missed a single session. This probably wouldn’t be true if I couldn’t stand the sight of my employer.

2

My boss is way cool! Funny, fair, reasonable and far too smart for anyone’s good. He pays me way too much and expects far too little. Lets me get away with working far too few hours, taking days off for skiing and horseplay with my wife and kid, doesn’t fire me for surfing porn and the Straight Dope.

Life is pretty good.

3

Mine is sending me off for a several month long “boot camp” style fast-paced education in info security.

I have no idea how many thousands of dollars it would cost me on my own, with all of the in-person classroom-style training that’s involved, and travel to these sessions in various states.

Beyond the investment in edumacating me, one could presume a bump in classification and bigger paychecks are in my not-too-distant future.

Oh, it doesn’t hurt that they don’t seem to mind how much I’m on here.

4

I temped about 8 years ago at a machine shop where the morning break was ‘catered’ by the management - they would bring in a huge stack of doughnuts and a couple gallons of milk, and everybody actually took morning break at the same time instead of between jobs=) I would have LOVED that job to go permanent.

Same timeframe I was temping for Gulf States as their engineering office staff…they had us off in a little building, a machine shop, the office with a couple of engineers who were almost never there and a machine shop with 3 guys in it. I did everything except sign my own timecard…I think I averaged about 2 hours of actual no - shit work a day. Mostly they used me to run to suppliers to pick up stuff … the people there would load the truck, and then the guys back at the shop unloaded, all I did was paperwork=) Sweetest bunch of texas rednecks you would ever want to work with=)

US Foodservice, as customer service. One major perk was being able to buy anything in the stock system there at their cost…and any time a vendor wanted us to carry a new product, or was interested in ‘training’ us on products they would bring it in and set up all sorts of foods in the break room and we would have to go sample say everything from a dessert manufacturer, or every type of junk food known to humanity =) It was great, though you did sort of have to buy in full case lots, so if you didnt have room for the case of 250 artichokes you would get a few people together and split the order after getting it…though I will admit it took our household only a week to run through 250 artichokes…we all love them=)

In my State Farm office I was the ‘party czar’ and organized the office parties for things like Cinco de Mayo, Founders Day, 4th of july…they would just give me time to get a quote from a local resraunt, or if I wanted to ‘cater’ it myself, I came up with a bugdet and the check for the full amount would arrive, and we would have our own party with great food instead of the hot dogs and burgers that they had at the main connecticut office <evil grin>

5

My boss, the co-owner of an LLC hired me when I was unemployed. I had pretty much no experence at all. the company payes for half my health care premium. In addision to a christmas party with gifts for everyone, they throw a summer pool party with food and drinks and games for the kids.
The other boss goes out and works in the field and I happen to be his chainman now. He is great to be with and is pretty patient with me.

6

My current company is as fair as a company can be. They don’t demand overtime unless absolutely necessary. They expect you to have a life outside of work. You can set your own hours as long as you are there between 9:30 and 2pm and work 40 hours a week (If you are supposed to be full time, that is). You get 15 days of vacation, 5 family emergency days, 2 personal days, and 1 floating holiday after working there for 30 days. They do 100% match on 401K contributions up to 12%, besides a pension plan where they set aside 10% of your salary every year that you are fully vested in after 7 years, plus a bonus that can be up to 15% of your base salary, depending on company and personal performance. They do a survery of the county every year and make sure every job is being paid fair market value - pre-all these benefits. They don’t believe in layoffs and will redistribute people rather than let them go. You are given fair warning with a chance to turn your behavior around before being fired. They will pay for any kind of training or school you might desire without any hassle. We have company catered doughnuts and bagels every Friday for everyone, free coffee all the time. We have a company picnic every summer and a party every winter. At least in my division, there are no micro managers, a very employee empowered atmosphere and they always try to hire from within first. We have the best CEO there ever was. Usually upper management is where slimy politicians go when they fail to be elected, but he is a genuinely sharp, thoughtful, well-rounded individual.

7

I have a great team. Last year when I was in the hospital, my boss and his boss were both in my room EVERY day. And not for a cursory 10 minutes, but for hours.

The guys who report to me were out at my house making it safe for me to come home.

These guys are more like family than work. I would be there in a heartbeat if any of them ever needed me.

8

I haven’t felt like murdering anyone in my company since noon. Does that count?

9

This last school year, I had my first job ever, and I’ll never forget it. It was a medical billing company run by this married couple. I don’t think you can call it a company, only 13 people worked there.

They were extremely fair. On certain days, they’d let us go home early, with pay. When there was a holiday, we’d have a potluck, that lasted two hours, and we got paid for it. Everyone once and a while, they actually bought everyone in the office ice cream. Whichever kind we wanted, we got. When it was someone’s birthday, they’d let everyone take about an hour break to eat cake, with pay.

I was selling candy for my debate team, and I had about 80 pieces (40 bucks) left to sell, and the husband bought them all off me.

They were so nice. But if you ever got on there bad side, it was not pretty. They were patient when I first started. Putting up with my questions. Really, I can’t describe how much I enjoyed working for them.

When I was about to quit (just finished high school, leaving home) he told me he wanted me to stay and offered me a full-time job. Regretfully, I had to turn him down. He said he liked me, and that he didn’t like many people. They would joke with the workers. It was a good place to work, and I’ll miss it.

I’d have to say, it was a good place to begin working, I’ll never forget it. And I will go back to visit sometime.

10

I’m currently interning with a news station in Nashville, TN. It’s probably one of the coolest environments I’ve ever worked in. Most of the “talent,” reporters and anchors and such, are down-to-earth and honest. Really, overall, it’s incredibly laid back and fun to be in.
Until crunch time comes. When it comes to breaking news or extended live coverage the bosses will ride your ass HARD. If you can’t carry your weight under serious pressure and deadlines, you are out the door.
But the lovely thing is this: when all is said and done and everything calms down, the assignment editors and producers and sometimes even the general manager (an extremely gruff man) will go out of their way to thank every last person for their contributions.
There really isn’t anything better than a boss who rides you hard and recognizes the hard work you put in. And who buys you donuts.

11

I work for the I&TS department at a college (the same one that Det. Olivia Benson of Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit attended, according to tonight’s rerun on USA). Good boss, great atmosphere.

I’m considered administration, which means great benefits, including a substantial tuition benefit for my daughter (who’s going to another college – they just write me a check every term), a month vacation (and they don’t keep track, though I don’t abuse it). This is a place that when I started, they calculated how much I was owed for the entire year, figured out how much I was making a pay period, and sent me a check for the amount it would be short – in the first month. The benefits were such that I took a big pay cut from my previous job and still came out ahead.

We get a deal for cheap lunches at the college dining hall – so cheap that it’s easier to get a full meal there than a hambuger, fries, and a drink at McDonald’s.

My boss is great. If an emergency comes up (like when our oil tank started leaking last week), he’ll tell you to go home and deal with it. When I went on a business trip about 2 hours away, he insists that I take a hotel instead of driving back late at night. When I go on other trips, the only thing they ever disallowed on my expense report was a movie I watched in the hotel room. (Though the trips have been fewer due to budget cutbacks.) If there’s any sort of training opportunity, he urges us to take it. He buys state of the art equipment (a tablet computer last year, for instance) for us to try out so we can advise on it. Every once in awhile, he’ll spring for a breakfast or lunch for everyone, sometimes to celebrate birthdays, other times just because.

I love my job. :smiley:

12

My former, and soon to be again, boss is great. He was previously a client and when he retired from the military he started his own company. About a year and a half later my company and his teamed up on some projects, and they ended up selling out to him, including hiring me on.

My other employer is a university, where I’m a PE instructor. They also were great employers before I left, and like my other boss have hired me back for my return to my home state.

I’ve generally had really good luck in most of my working career. Any problems I have experienced have been with just a few individuals.

13

My “boss” when I worked in the school cafeteria for tuition assistance gave us $20 dollar gift cards at the end of each term. Also, we got a free meal each day we worked. I didn’t pay for lunch once my whole freshman year. :slight_smile:

14

Free, high quality coffee from a local roaster instead of mass-market Folgers crap. Free bottled water and sodas. Business casual environment - no ties required. Paid garage parking. Reasonable benefits package. Don’t micromanage. So far no complaints here.

15

My boss is a genuinely nice guy.

16

I work 10-12 hour days, but I only have to do actual work for 1-2 hours a day. The rest of the time I just surf, watch TV, sleep, whatever I want. I’m gonna be so worthless when this job comes to an end one day.

17

My employer lately seems to have become a little more hardnosed; recently I was actually asked to work on a Saturday instead of deciding I needed to on my own, and on another occasion was denied a day off that I requested.
Still, I did get a 9% equity raise last year, so, as P.G. Wodehouse’s character Anatole would say, you have to take a few roughs with a smooth.

18

About a month after 9/11, every employee at my workplace found a $2000 check in their pay envelopes.

The president decided at this time of crisis, we needed help paying our bills. We already have profit sharing and substantial Christmas bonuses. This made the local and eventually national news.

I had already made a donation to the Red Cross. I went ahead and made another one.

I will stay here till I retire.

19

I have a boss, Preston Hunley, and my Boss’ Boss, James “Alfred” Graham.

When I was very, very ill earlier this year, I was out of work for weeks with a lung abcess.

They went Downtown to Personnel, to try & donate some of their Sick Leave days to me.

Personnel wouldn’t let them, but HEY!! 2 great guys, bless 'em.

Preston is related to the man who designed the Confederate submarine Hunley.

Alfred is a good friend, we joke all the time, & he has been with State Government for 50 years! :eek:

He’s told many tales about his time in the Navy, including the time he witnessed the H-Bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.

20

Geez, any of these companies hiring? :smiley:

My company does more than it’s fair share of screwin’ ya (see a couple of my previous threads), but the division I used to work for - that unfortunately does not exist anymore - was great. It was created by the company founder, who is a genuinely nice guy and great to work for. If he read a book that seemed helpful, he’d buy copies for all of us in the division. A couple of times, he had parties at his home for us and had them catered by some great local restaurants. He rented out a portion of Dave & Busters (local arcade/bar place) with a buffet and $10 game cards for each of us.

All of this was straight out of his own pocket and had nothing to do with the company as a whole. I really wish he hadn’t left our company :frowning: