Pluspunten
Chroma is a unique place to work because it's 100% employee-owned. Everyone on the Board of Directors is a current employee, voted in place by the other employees. That means policies are made with employees in mind, as well as the business. There aren't any outside owners just taking money out, or treating employees poorly. The compensation for many employees is well above market, although the higher salaried positions tend to be less competitive to market. All employees benefit from the same amount of profit-sharing twice a year, the same distribution of stock every year, generous 401k contributions regardless of what the employee contributes, and generous medical. For the most part, people are friendly and engaged; the kind of people you want to spend your day with. It's still a small enough company that you can make a big difference as an individual contributor. The company did really well keeping people safe when the pandemic hit. We were typically a step or two ahead of state and federal guidelines, and were very flexible to individuals' changing needs (flex shifts, lots of extra paid time off, working from home when possible). Many employees said they felt as safe at work as they did at home.
Minpunten
Chroma didn't have any management at all for a very long time. There was lots of room for creativity and self-direction. Self-motivated people could thrive, but it was really hard to get big things done. As you can imagine, that didn't scale well for high-tech manufacturing. There is still a pretty flat structure. Some people love that, but some want more levels so they can "climb the ladder". The executive and management levels have grown over the last several years. Some people still chafe at the very idea of management, some dislike change, and some, of course, have legit issues with how things are run. The great compensation can be "golden handcuffs", keeping unhappy people in their job just for the good pay, even if everyone including them would be happier if they left. One toxic person can really ruin it for everyone around them.