I work for a nonprofit, I love what I do and who I work with, we all do. We’re a team of 50ish in a tough field (domestic/sexual violence) but genuinely none of us want to leave. We got a new CEO earlier this year and things are not going well. A few examples…
The CEO hired a new HR director and in the past 6 weeks at least a dozen people have been paid incorrectly (over and under) or not paid at all. We also haven’t received our mileage in at least 4 months. I have coworkers crying to me scared they won’t be able to eat this weekend if their paycheck is wrong. No one who has been paid wrong has reported to the dept of labor even at my urging. I personally haven’t had any paycheck errors, I would not hesitate to walk out and report them immediately.
A new staff member has been without her benefits for over a month now; when we ask the CEO and HR for direction/next steps, we are ignored or told that we’ll have to wait because they “aren’t familiar with the process yet.” Maybe they’re new- but pay and benefits should be #1. A mom of 3 can’t go a month+ without insurance!
When you call to speak with either of these people you are “berated, belittled, made to feel small, and/or told it’s not their problem.” These are all quotes from the 12+ people who I’ve spoken to who have been having issues. HR also takes PTO every payday- even though policy says we don’t get PTO in our first 90 days.
We are severely understaffed, which isn’t shocking for a nonprofit but the CEO is auditing salaries and job descriptions to see where she can cut costs on already underpaid staff and is refusing to hire anyone. I screened 10 candidates, interviewed 5 and recommended 1 for hire. FIVE weeks after being approved by HR and the CEO and after we kept asking if the offer had been made they informed us they “changed their mind about that candidate” but hadn’t planned on telling us. They haven’t allowed us to screen or interview anyone else either. When informed staff are feeling burnt out, the CEO said “I hope everyone quits, I’ll run this place myself.”
At the agency thanksgiving (cringe, mandatory) we were asked what we would want our superpower to be. The CEO said she would want to be invisible so she could eavesdrop on all the things people say about her. That is NOT something a confident, service-driven CEO says!!
Multiple staff with FMLA and ADA accommodations were told they need to resubmit their paperwork as we have a new HR rep, and she either can’t locate the original forms or “can’t read the scanned versions.
We may not get paid but we have been told we’re no longer allowed on the executive floor without express permission- the CEO doesn’t want our clients, or “those people” as she called them, on her floor, even though that’s where the meeting rooms are and we’ve been providing services on that floor for years. When someone left the door to this floor open we got a 3 paragraph email about how inappropriate this is.
There is no complaint/grievance process for staff. There are only 3 exec members and 2 are working 90-hour weeks to fill in gaps. The 3rd is HR. We are not permitted to communicate to the board of directors or attend board meetings.
I could go on. I’m known to be more… radical.. than most of my colleagues so people are looking to me for guidance. No one is willing to strike or anything “drastic” but everyone is on edge and wanting something to happen. Should we storm a board meeting? Write a letter and publish it in the news? I can’t do NOTHING and quitting is too easy.