Pluspunten
The people are great. Nice. Kind. Willing to help when and where they can. It's the kind of place where people smile and say hello whether they know you or not. The company claims to value its people, and I truly believe that it does its best to do so. Work life balance is great. People look at me odd if i'm still sitting at my desk past 6PM. The offices are beautiful, and there's always some opportunity to network and connect with co-workers and friends. If you can add value to the company, moving up the corporate ladder doesn't seem as difficult as in other large companies. The pay is below competitors of similar size in the area, but can still be decent depending upon your position.
Minpunten
Where do I start. The systems are awful, as in....unbelievably awful. They are light years behind other companies of similar size. One might think this isn't a big deal if you're not working in IT (I work in finance afterall). Quite the contrary. Because the systems and infrastructure are so horrible, it will result in you spending your time doing work that in most other companies would be done quickly and more effectively by a system/application, allowing you more time to grow and develop as a finance professional (i.e. enhancing analytical and strategic thinking skills). Instead, there's lots of time spent copying and pasting, updating excel formulas (we're still on Office 2003 btw), and updating documents to reflect business changes and re-orgs (which happen all the time). As a financial analyst, you'll spend a lot less time actually doing analysis, and much more time compensating for the lack of a technological infrastructure with good financial planning and reporting systems. Not only is this a problem in terms of creating a challenging work environment, but in terms of professional development. I'm concerned that i'm not developing the skills necessary to make me a viable candidate elsewhere should I decide to move on. They're trying to improve this, but with so many partners who have been there for 10+ years in leadership positions (the "but we've always done it this way" crowd), i'm not optimistic that current efforts to change will be effective in the short term. A lot of partners have been with Starbucks for a long time, and don't know how behind the company's operations and systems are compared to other companies of similar size. Starbucks is all about consensus building. It's difficult to get anyone to make a decision about anything. When a decision is made, it's often the one that make the most people happy, which also usually results in the most work and re-work. "No" is not a word that's often uttered. As a result, inefficient processes can be found all over the organization, clogging up resources and time (and of course, money). The vacation benefits are sub-standard for new partners (2 weeks for the 1st 3 years, 2 personal days - 1 given in Jan and 1 in Jul).
