I work for a family owned company that does have a little of that "we are all family" sense of things and I think the distinguishing marks are: 1. You are not

I work for a family owned company that does have a little of that "we are all family" sense of things and I think the distinguishing marks are: 1. You are not fully trusted until the founder's son personally has some trust in you (this usually involves proving yourself professionally but also making an impression) 2. If you are not fully trusted, the company loyalty is about the same as any other company 3. If you are fully trusted, the company will go out of its way to avoid firing you even if you become ineffective, ie, they will shift you between positions, change you from full-time to part-time, sometimes even completely change your department. 4. Sometimes this trust gets to the point of not really paying attention to what so-and-so is doing 5. The downside is our company is heavily top-heavy, with a lot of people in vague senior positions with ill-defined zones of responsibility. People who are not able to stabilize somewhere into a new senior position usually move on but that can take a while 6. Partly because of #5, the exact responsibilities of senior people can be vague and the chain of command for certain things can be confusing 7. There is a lot of hiring within family and friends, not necessarily resulting in incompetence, but sometimes you wonder if there might be better people for some positions 8. The company is slow moving and stays relatively small, procedures are highly informal 9. Raises are probably below industry average, bonuses are probably above industry average Altogether, for me personally, the trade-offs are worth it. That being said, I can understand why most companies do not structure themselves this way.