I think the stereotypical calm company is one with strong financial performance in a stable industry that is somewhat insulated from swings in the macro economy. Think large regional players in insurance, healthcare, finance, banking, etc. It’s large enough to have “professional” managers and a big customer base (so one customer having a problem is not a hair-on-fire emergency).
In my experience you tend to find many more penny pinching owners in the world of small businesses, not at a 1000-person regional life insurance company.
As a candidate, how do you separate this kind of company from one where the owners are cheap and want to pay you as less as possible?
There are a lot of companies that advertise terrific WLB, pictures of their employees and their families laughing only to find out none of those employees work there any longer and the pictures were taken on their once-every-10-years retreat at a cheap hotel in MO or WY.