Working for Publicly Traded Vs. Privately Held Company (1 Viewer)

RichPeace

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Just looking for opinions here...

Since I have entered the professional world I have worked for two companies. Both publicly traded. It seems like the fact that we are public directly contributes to the overall stress level of the workers. I have a couple friends who work in the same industry, but for private companies, and there descriptions of the office environment and company culture is much different than mine.

Do you think this is isolated and strictly based on the interworkings/management of different companies or do you think that being publicly traded comes with an excess burden to please stockholders?
 
SHould be an interesting topic. A couple of us had this conversation yesterday and I was the only one who had worked in both. By far I prefer private. Many perks come with being in private company. A guy I was talking said his friend (who had taken two companies public) would never do it again. Private all the way.
 
Just looking for opinions here...

Since I have entered the professional world I have worked for two companies. Both publicly traded. It seems like the fact that we are public directly contributes to the overall stress level of the workers. I have a couple friends who work in the same industry, but for private companies, and there descriptions of the office environment and company culture is much different than mine.

Do you think this is isolated and strictly based on the interworkings/management of different companies or do you think that being publicly traded comes with an excess burden to please stockholders?

If the company is a corporation, it has the same burdens to stockholders whether publicly traded or privately held. Obviously, the pubic company's performance is avialable for anyone's review whereas the private is not. But I think the stresses to perform are likely on par.

IMO, it' probably just the offices you have been in. It isn't like high-stress work environments are uncommon.
 
I've worked for both. I am in a public company now, but the stress level is very low and culture is very laid back. On a Friday afternoon half the cars are gone by 1:00 or 2:00. I prefer the public company as the promotion opportunities and monetary rewards are much greater. If I stay with my company for another 20 years and am able to get just two good promotions the total pay level could be 7 figures. That may or may not happen, but even if I don't reach that level the monetary benefits will still be excellent. This would never happen with a private company, unless it is an extremely large one (such as Chouest).
 
I work for a private corporation, and the stress level is pretty high. Granted, it's a public accounting firm, which probably has a lot to do with that. The hours can be long and the jobs we're on are demanding. I think it just depends on the place you're at (as someone mentioned above), and the profession.
 
IMO, a private company cares more of the overall success of the business. In a public company, all they care about is the next month financial statement.

I'll take a private company any day.
 

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