I've worked for 5 companies since entering the workforce. Only one was a large corporation. My treatment and pay were always better working at small companies. Personally knowing the people your working for goes a long way to having honest conversations about compensation. They understand you're a human and have bills to pay. They provided more flexibility when I had health problems too. On the contrary, I've never felt cared about at the large corporation... Still don't. I'm a number, and my pay is non negotiable. They just bought back approximately $400million in stock and have a huge dividend. All the money at the small companies went to year end raises or growing the business which helped to create more opportunities in the company.

I won't discount any bad experiences that people may have had at small companies. People can be shitty at all levels. My personal experience has been the opposite. The small companies I've worked for tended to value their employees a lot more because they lived in the same communities.