Hi everyone, I'm here on behalf of a friend that doesn't do Reddit. I may end up being a bit vague or change up some minor points to keep this somewhat anonymous (sorry in advance for vague pronouns and this novel sized post).
Here's the basic background info: they work for a nonprofit that gets most of its funding directly from the city (NYC) to provide select services to a specific community. The NPO has between 100-125 employees. Everyone at the top of the ladder (CEO, CFO, COO, HR, and select directors) are either all closely related (parent/child or siblings) or close family friends. Nepotism at its finest. Also, all of these people work 100% remotely while everyone else works in the office (hybrid or remote work is given to select individuals coy with the CEO regardless of role). The services the city is providing funds for were halted during the shutdown but were supposed to start at the beginning of 2023. They haven't. According to HR and the CEO, wages and benefits have been frozen due to the shutdown but my friend talked with some coworkers and discovered that at least two people got raises this year. My friend has been there since early 2019 and the two employees that got raises started in 2022.
My friend LOVES their job, their direct supervisors and coworkers, and a real passion for working with this community, but there have been issues. They and others were promised raises after returning to the office but never got them. The job duties are a confused mess because the CEO goes in and pulls people out or “special” projects (aka, scout sites for his side hustles like a hookah bar and auto shop), leaving important tasks to others in the office. Turnover rates are high because of this. There's a single person in HR (again, related to the CEO) who is never in the office and ignores employee complaints about the CEO. No employee hired after 2021 hs even seen or spoken directly with HR. When they do sent company-wide emails, it's always during off-work hours.
Talks of forming or joining a union started last fall but not enough people were willing to speak up. Since those talks fizzled, my friend and others involved in the talks have received late paychecks and funding for their specific office has been cut. Promised promotions were canceled behind two people's backs. An employee survey was developed and, after bugging HR for 2 months to send it out, was emailed to the whole company in the spring. Results came in around May and STILL haven't been acknowledged (other than “we hear you” bs email) or worked on. What's worse, work scheduled to help the community have not been used appropriately (e.g., funds to do a back-to-school fair “disappeared” after the event was randomly canceled). No is working there feels comfortable speaking up because so many of them are part of the same immediate family. My friend recently requested an in-person meeting with HR, got the run-around for the whole month, only to be told today that the HR person was “too busy” to meet and didn't bother to reschedule the meeting.
My friend is beyond frustrated and has heard from both coworkers and the community they're supposed to serve about the issues coming up. I've been hearing about it and, I swear, it sounds like this “nonprofit” is simply taking money from the city and using it inappropriately. It seems like several people at the top are getting paid to do nothing but stay home and run their side hustles while everyone below is trying to do the actual work with dwindling funding and shitty salaries. There's been no audit and no one is really sure if HR knows what they are doing (got the job fresh out of college with no previous experience. Again, there's a single HR person for over 100 employees and they have admitted on social media that they don't know what they're doing). Attempts to bring this up the ladder have failed because of all the nepotism. My friend feels stuck and isn't in a position to simply quit the job (which they don't want to do if they can help it), but attempts to speak up have been met with more hostilities, very pointed responses, and “payroll issues” that have delayed at least two checks for many of the ones speaking up.
TLDR: my friend works in a nonprofit that is run/headed by a single family that may be skimming city-provided funds from the company and retaliating against complainers. Looking for advice for what they can do next/who to speak to outside the company about this.
TIA