- Turnover is high. Was shocked to be talking to colleagues the first week and hear that a ton of people had been there a year or less. But this con is kind of clear - their strategies shift as they iteratively explore and discard solutions to the big problems they're trying to solve. Still, even accounting for that, attrition on the non-technical staff side is high. Four people have left in the couple of months I’ve been here which doesn’t sound like a lot but kind of is for a place this small.
- Talking to older staff, it feels like career ladders and mapping out a path forward has been a problem since inception? The review process changes apparently is constantly changing, and it really sounds like some folks feel undervalued, underpaid, and overworked.
- Above is also a little worrisome because it doesn’t sound like anyone Manager or CxO level is thinking too much about how to fix all the feelings their employees have. It’s not the worst place I’ve ever worked at, not even close, but if you can do better you probably should. I hope they figure that out soon because the only one who seems to make an attempt is the CEO. That’s not really enough if the rest of her leadership is not doing the same.
- There are team favorites. Only the tech folk seem to have someone at CxO level to advocate for them, acknowledge their work, and promote them for it. And even that isn't the same for all - designers rarely get promoted but engineers do quite regularly. Operations and partnerships staff seem to routinely be an afterthought.
- I actually am unsure whether there's work-life balance for Operations (finance, fundraising, HR, office managers). The fundraising team on any given day has at least one sick team member and Finance seems to be in the office when I come in AND when I leave. It seems pretty rough.
- Probably the most important for me personally is that the current COO has an alarming lack of emotional intelligence for someone in leadership at an organization that purports to advocate for historically marginalized communities. It's incredible that someone with 20+ years of experience doesn't know that stereotypes of cultures aren't acceptable holiday party costumes or that casual assumptions about experiences based on race are inappropriate. It is baffling that the company has chosen to invest in hiring an expensive diversity and inclusion consultant (when they seem leery about giving staff raises) - instead of making the choice to part ways with someone who has the potential to devastate the brand.
