Pros
Overall, BT provides a great work environment and continually strives to improve. Management exhibits great leadership and the firm seems to have a good plan for growth. From the interview process to my day-to-day, this is the first firm where I feel completely comfortable to be myself. I have had great managers and partners in the past, but those were isolated individuals in a much larger organization. The partner and director over my department have immense of levels of patience and genuinely care about developing our team as professionals. They also remember that we are humans that at times have to handle personal tasks during work hours and let us take care of our personal lives. A little more about being myself. I like speaking up when I see process improvement opportunities and my bosses actually listen and incorporate some of my more developed ideas. When I bring up nascent ideas, they'll make suggestions to flesh out the suggestion. What's even better is that my bosses are continually trying to improve our processes, so I'm not at odds with management. But that's my department, let's talk about BT. Since I have started at the firm, I have seen opportunities to attend leadership training both internal and external. I know the internal meetings are open to all employees. Additionally, Ken Thrasher and the HR team have researched and setup training problems for management to be better coaches to all employees. Another thing I think exhibits good leadership is a desire to support us in opportunities to train in things like CPR and AEDs. I believe good leadership supports developing well-rounded employees and training outside of accounting helps to accomplish this goal. Another leadership trait that I find the firm has done well is communication. At previous employers, communication was minimal. Here, the firm will meet at least once a quarter to update employees on the health of the company. Following that meeting is a social event where employees can meet people from other departments. In addition to this meeting and event, HR will send out updates at least once a month. My department meets once a week for about 15 minutes so that our director can keep us up-to-date. More than just keeping us up-to-date, the firm communicates appreciation. Ken and Rick both show up to appreciation events and thanks us for our hard work and have more personal conversations to get to know the folks at the firm. Enough about the great leadership, let's talk a little about compensation and benefits. Having been around the block and also reading salary guides, I know my base pay is competitive. What's really cool is the benefits package. PTO is comparable to other public accounting firms, but I don't have to use any of my PTO to take off the last week of the year. The firm is technically closed between Christmas and New Year’s. Easiest way to make sure I get this time off is to finish my work or schedule my work to fall around this week. Additionally, medical insurance is robust and the firm makes a significant contribution to our HSA accounts. If we talk about the total compensation package and don't just focus on base pay, BT has it right.
Cons
Life is what you make it. BT is in fact a company that does have to hire real human beings. This means all the crazy that comes with dealing with other humans. If I have to harp on a few things, then let's talk about interacting with other departments, CPE, and benefits. We're setup much like other companies with different departments in different areas of the office. I don't interact much with the other departments during a regular workday, so this sounds less than ideal, but its par for the course. People can mingle at firm events like our quarterly meeting. The firm also sponsors different sports teams and does Fitbit challenges that also help employees mingle. It's tough to do more with work after work hours, but it does provide a good opportunity to meet people from the other departments. Okay, CPE. I've been spoiled in the past with an organized week of in-house CPE. That was good and bad. Think about one whole week of CPE, brutal but convenient. In my department here at BT, we do an hour here or an hour there. It doesn't feel organized, but it gets the job done. I know I can pick some outside CPE to attend, so I'll have to give that a shot. BT is good middle ground compared to one place that I worked that almost didn't provide CPE or a budget to go buy/attend CPE. I know I said total compensation package and benefits are great in the Pros section, so hear me out. BT has one of the best overall packages I have seen in my career, but I'm selfish and greedy. Let's give a healthier 401k match and let's get rid of the vesting period. I think vesting periods are an old school idea that was necessary because leadership was less than ideal. Step up with good leadership and employees will naturally be loyal.