At this point, I feel most employees of a business that's up for sale should just put their foot down and say no to selling the company to any private equity firm.

The owner can say, hey I worked for this and I need to exit with a plan.

Well, the employees can say we worked for this and we need to make sure we will have our jobs in 5 - 10 years.

I am working in a company that used to be privately owned, and was sold to a PE. It happened before I joined. The ones who are still here tell me the night and day difference in how the employees are treated before and after the sale. The treatment I'm talking about is how the employees are compensated.