Working for a Great Company

I started a new job at the beginning of March.  When I started, I had a strange feeling that the company was different that any other employer I have ever worked for, and I was right.

Prior to working for my current employer, the best company I worked for was American Express, and I did so as an independent contractor.  Amex was so good that when my contract expired, and I was no longer bound by non-compete clauses, I actively sought returning to them as an employee, and vowed to leave any job that I had to work for them.

Yesterday, I got an email notification about a job posting from Amex, similar to the jobs that I have applied for in the past.  Instead of applying for the job, I deleted the email.  Why?  Because a) I would probably not even get an interview, and b) the job that I started in March gives me everything that I had at Amex and more.

This is not a slight on American Express.  This is advice for how an employer should act.  My employer prior to Amex was miserable to work for.  I worked for them for 3 and a half years and never got a raise, and I was told by a co-worker that based upon what he knew of the job market, I was being paid at least $5 under market value for my skill set.  I found out that my closest co-worker, who performed a similar job function as me, had not gotten a raise in 10 years, and if the rumors were correct, SHE was making as much as $6 an hour less than me.  Meanwhile the guy that fired me asked my co-workers if they thought they could replace me, lied about the circumstances of my termination, actively fought against me collecting unemployment, hired his friend (who he gave raises to, while denying me raises), and within 1 year of my termination, cost the company the contract that made my former position necessary.  A lot of people lost their jobs, but this incompetent moron got moved to another account (from what I heard, he was forcibly removed from the account that he screwed up at the demand of the client).

My current employer is different.  I am not pitted against my co-workers in a competition to keep my job.  My co-workers and I work together to do what needs to be done.  We cover each others backs, not our own asses.  I don't dread going to work.  I am recognized as a valued employee, based on my performance, and I am compensated at a competitive rate (the benefits and perks are also pretty good).  Email is used as a method of communication, not as a shield to protect oneself or as a weapon to attack another.  Mistakes are treated as opportunities to learn, not another nail on the cross.  The goal of everything we do is not getting it done fast; it is getting it done right.  My boss, my co-workers, and I have the single-minded focus of doing what we do and doing it to the best of our collective ability.  We openly share knowledge and ideas among each other, to make the TEAM better.

American Express is a lot closer to my current employer than the employer prior to them, and I would wholeheartedly advocate working for them, but this is not about Amex.  This is about you and your job.  If you work for a company that sounds like my current employer, you are probably happy with your job.  If your job sounds like the misery that I experienced previously, then quit, and find something else.