From an employee standpoint:
When I first started working, my company did not have a 401k, but they made contributions to a SEP IRA for us (profit sharing). I could not contribute any of my income to the SEP. I could contribute to a Roth IRA (or probably a traditional, but I chose Roth).
Now, we have grown and I'm glad they started offering a 401k. They still contribute the same amount of profit sharing (using 3% safe harbor contributions each paycheck, with extra quarterly). But now I can contribute up to the IRS max, as well as fund my Roth IRA.