Pros
I was able to get several rapid promotions by working hard and accomplishing goals. I got to work from home. I supervised an incredibly talented, dedicated group of people.
Cons
I worked at Open English for two years, starting as a contractor, and was rapidly promoted to a Senior Manager position as a regular employee. I supervised a team of contractors, many of whom were told that in a few months they would be converted to regular employees. This never happened for them, despite numerous attempts on my part to make it happen. My team was a key player in launching Open English's new learning platform, and I personally received an MVP award for my work in doing this. Shortly after this, however, I informed the company that I was pregnant, and everything changed. They told me I would have to convert from a regular employee back to a contractor at a staffing company because of "tax liability" for being a remote employee, something that had not been an issue before they knew I was pregnant. I resisted this move, but a few weeks after my baby was born they managed to do it. Nothing else changed about my job; I just lost my benefits and stock options and switched from salaried to hourly and got paid by a different company. Meanwhile, my team was working on a big project, so I had elected to not take maternity leave so that we would be sure to meet our deadlines (which we did). My team was thanked again and even though we were now all contractors, they were told they were an essential part of the organization and given a new project. I was told my position was safe indefinitely and that my team members would all be given 90 days notice if they were going to be terminated. Everyone accepted this information in good faith. Then a few months later, I was told I had to get rid of my entire team even though we were in the middle of a project. Twelve people, some of whom had been with the company for almost two years. Everyone got two weeks notice except my Assistant Manager, who got a month. As the end of that month approached, the company went back and forth on whether or not they could keep her. She didn't know what to think. I had also been told I had three months and then my contract was being terminated. So we were both in limbo, then suddenly one morning two days before her previously stated end-date, they let us both go with no notice and no explanation. They implied the project was canceled, but I happen to know that the work was just transferred to a different team of people, all of whom make less money for doing the same jobs. Now, some of these things are par for the course at any company, particularly start-ups with lots of turmoil. The difference with OE, however, is that they don't recognize the value of good employees. If that's how they treat a Senior Manager who they themselves called an MVP, imagine how they will treat you.
