D.S.
Hi, S.!
I have worked for big companies before and one was fantastic! They were very family friendly. Unfortunately, there was a merger and most of us were laid off. I am now working for a small subsidiary of a larger company in France. Our US office only has three employees. That's because they laid off 3 people at the end of last year because we weren't being profitable.
When I started there two years ago, there were 4 of us. A few months after I started, our then VP decided everyone was going to work 8-5 instead of 9-5. He promised us health care benefits but we were there for a year before they were provided. We don't know if we have any maternity leave. We may have a unique situation since our headquarters is in France, but the HR department rarely answers our inquiries. We do have 10 vacation days and 5 sick/personal days per year. That's all that we are sure of! Our schedule of holidays for the year has never been approved. It's been very difficult going from a nice, big company where policies and procedures are in place to this small company that is struggling to survive. We were told we would not be getting a raise or a bonus this year because our company did poorly last year, and we are extremely overworked. I am close to home (less than 2 miles) and I can go home for lunch, which is very nice.
My advice to you would be to investigate right away what the medical benefits are if you need them. Make sure everything sounds right to you before you make the move.
Good luck!
Deb