I think this is most likely the best subreddit to ask this question on.
I worked for a nonprofit organization dealing with animals up until recently. It is a particularly confusing situation for me because it is a nonprofit organization doing important work for the community, but…
The work environment is TERRIBLE for the employees. Terrible. Shifts are mandatory 9 hour days with an unpaid lunch in the middle. The work is gruelling, nasty, exhausting. It is emotionally exhausting as well. You see a lot of really sad situations, death and abuse and simply abhorrent things. These things come with the nature of the work.
However, there is absolutely zero support for the Frontline staff. There are no mental health benefits. You need a doctor's note to miss more than a day of work. There is no dedicated sick leave or any other type of leave, only generic PTO accrued at about 1 day per month. You must use this PTO for everything– sick days, planned events, etc. A LOT of mandatory overtime due to understaffing as well. A large portion of the staff are working 12-13 your days.
Management is unsupportive and harsh. They will insult and sass workers over the radio, which everyone can hear, and laugh about it in private. They are cocky and mean. They believe themselves to be experts, operating only on knowledge they received from their previous managers, as none of them have degrees in animal welfare or anything related. Specifically, the medical team manager makes numerous mistakes that lead to delayed care and extra suffering for the animals. The behavior team managers believe themselves to be the only ones capable of rehabilitating pets, refusing to let anyone attempt to foster behavior cases and instead selecting them for euthanasia. This last particular piece I personally detested and ended up sneaking a cat out of the shelter to rehabilitate personally on the day he was supposed to be euthanized. None of the behavior they mentioned to explain away the euthanasia was EVER present in this cat in the home. I even tested simulating the shelter environment, no behavioral concerns at all. This cat should never have been selected for euthanasia. After consulting with coworkers, there were stories exchanged of other cats in similar situations.
Due to the conditions of the work, lack of support (and quite frankly, sabotage from management) the turnover rate at this rescue is immense. In my year or so of working for the organization, there have been dozens of workers who left specifically for these reasons. Other workers were fired for bringing euthanasia concerns to management, and others fired for discussing pay (under the guise of a “negative attitude.”) Many employees would cry during shifts.
On a more personal note; I ended up missing a lot of work, largely due to COVID as I had symptoms for many weeks and ended up with myocarditis in my heart as a result. A few weeks later, I got sick again and missed a few more days. I was fired with no notice, no write-ups, not even a verbal warning about absences. They never said anything to me about the absences and I was sick for all of them. One day I called out, sick, and in response got an email saying they were ending my employment effective immediately.
Aside from being sick later on in my employment, I was a very dedicated employee. I often came in early or stayed late to help. I assisted other departments and went beyond my duties to improve processes for the shelter. I did everything I could. They pulled the rug out from under me with absolutely zero warning.
I suppose I wrote this post because I want to hear the thoughts of the community. Am I being reasonable in my distaste for the organization? Is there anything I can do to make them do things better? I still have friends there, working under those conditions.
Thank you!