Small companies... there's a catch.

Here are some of the red flags I didn't recognize, questions I should have asked, and what I wish I would have known.

Are you thinking about joining a start up read this before signing on the dotted line.

A Red Flag:

In small companies important jobs can stay empty.

When I decided to join a biotech startup as the first hire I only saw the positive. I thought about how being the first full time employee would give me an opportunity to try out lots of different jobs. I didn't even pause to consider what the down side could be. The reality was that such a small number of employees meant my CEO served as HR, accounting, scientific lead, and business development. This created numerous issues for me ranging from delayed performance reviews to late-night last-minute company requests.

A very fine point was placed on this issue last month when I was told that I was going to be let go. There was no HR to discuss severance packages with, no one to talk about the inappropriate way that some of the team were behaving about the process, and no one to serve as a buffer between myself and the constantly changing winds of science vs business.

A Red Flag:

Small companies often mean low diversity.

This issue can be sliced a number of ways. The company I was working for had diversity in employee backgrounds (the co-founders were a postdoctoral fellow from South America and a black MIT professor) but it lacked diversity on other fronts. I was the only woman at the company for 1.5 years. This may seem like a small problem, honestly I didn't think it would be a big deal either, but I was wrong. It meant I was constantly tapped for 1950's era secretarial tasks; can you make this cake say "Happy Birthday", can you check my schedule for me, can you take notes, etc.

I say this to point out that what might not seem like a big deal on day 1 can become a major factor in your happiness by day 500. If there is no one in the company that you can connect or relate with you can end up feeling trapped and insignificant.

A Question:

How does this company handle change?

If this sounds like a loaded question, guess what, it is. In any number of interviews you will be asked to talk about a time where something went wrong and how you handled it. It's fair turn around to find out what issues the company has come up against and how they approached the difficulty. Early stage small companies are unique beasts in this regard as they are usually success stories. Ie they got the start up capital, they successfully pitched a business plan, and now they have hooked your interest. So they might feel invincible, like they cannot fail, but this also means that early stage small companies do not know how they will react to stress or strife.

In the past I have been guilty of not using my interviews to their fullest extent, but you can bet I am going into my next interview with a pocket full of questions like this one. I want to know how they handled COVID, how they dealt with their first termination, and how they plan to approach lean times when the funding runway comes up short. We all deserve to work for companies who have, at the very least, pondered these eventualities.

What I Wish I Had Known:

The word team is a trap.

The company values are more of a one-way street than they might want you to know, and while this sounds bitter I hope it also sounds wise. In small companies "company culture" is a big deal. Company vision and values often show up in meetings, performance reviews, and in artwork so you might expect that if they are so pervasive then they run deep. I am here to tell you that much like the use of "team" these tools are to make you *feel* like the company is on your side. Unfortunately, they are not.

I was more open and honest with my CEO than I had ever been with my PIs during my time in academia. When I applied for the biotech job I told the CEO I was only able to commit to 1 year, because there was a chance I would be moving. I ended up staying past the year mark but my moment of honesty stuck in their mind. It was even requested that I give them a 3 month heads up if I was going to leave the company, which is way more than is necessary but I agreed to it. Last month they told me it was time for me to go, for my own good. They had decided to terminate me so that I didn't catch them unaware.

Believe me when I say this is a lesson you don't want to learn during COVID-19. My "team" experience at this small company has proved that real trust should be reserved for your friends and family.

What I Wish I Had Known:

The law is on the employer's side not the employee's.

Small companies are given a lot of leeway. They get breaks on taxes, they get breaks under employment laws, and they get breaks on what they are required to give their employees. In the last month I have learned a lot of these little facts.

For instance:

*Any company with less than 100 employees is not required to give you notice of termination or a severance package under the WARN Act.

*Any company with less than 50 employees is not required to support an employee under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).

*Any health coverage you carry through work can be continued even after being terminated, but most companies pay the highest premiums for tax reasons. As such people typically cannot cover the cost for the 18 months they are allowed to keep the coverage.

This means that small companies are able to do wrong by their employees without it being considered illegal.

I cannot say that working at this small biotech startup was everything that I had hoped for, but I will walk into my next position with my eyes wide open. The say knowledge is power, and with what I know now I could be a superhero.