Pros
Complex and interesting work Libertarian politics Short commute time to company headquarters
Cons
Extremely low base salary and extremely low bonuses (if there even are any) No work-life balance; law firm-like work demands, but laughable and insulting compensation Extremely arrogant and dishonest management and leadership Class-like/caste system of haves and have nots "Good old boys" network (if you are not a perverted male or beautiful female, forget about advancement) People are terminated constantly for small personality clashes with their petulant supervisors Cult-like atmosphere I was recruited to work in the Koch Industries tax department many years ago. I was told that my offered base salary, despite being 50% under market, would not matter as I would receive bonuses that would equal or exceed 100% of my base salary if I met or exceeded expectations. My performance reviews indicated I met or exceeded expectations every year I was employed at Koch yet my year-end bonuses never exceeded 20% of my base salary (which itself was 50% below market). Each time I confronted my supervisor, he always had an excuse like "the company is not doing that well this year" or "management is trying to cut back." In reality, my supervisor just lied, and he and the other tax leadership gave the same line to each tax attorney who walked in the door. My situation has been repeated dozens and dozens of times over the last decade. Koch works its employees (especially its younger attorneys) to death, treats them like garbage, and then punishes them further at the end of each year by giving them low bonuses. It was heart-breaking to see how people really believed Koch would keep its word and then were constantly disappointed, after having left good-paying jobs elsewhere to move their families to Wichita. Retention and attrition are absolutely terrible at Koch because of the dishonesty regarding compensation, work-life balance, employee morale, etc.. Many tax recruiting agencies/headhunters will no longer recruit for Koch because they know Koch is simply dishonest in its recruiting practices. I finally decided to go elsewhere after enduring the hypocrisy for many years. I left and my compensation at my new employer was over double what I earned at Koch, and that is with working 25% less, having much less stress, obtaining and using four weeks of annual vacation, among many, many other perks. Do yourself a favor, do not believe Koch's hype, spare yourself the misery and disappointment, and find a job elsewhere. You will be very grateful you did not make the mistake of going to work for Koch Industries.
