3 words for San Francisco Office: TOXIC. DYSFUNCTIONAL. MESSY. - Anonymous employee Habitat for Humanity Employee Review

This is for the San Francisco Office. In 3 words: TOXIC. DYSFUNCTIONAL. MESSY. It’s glossy on the outside and broken on the inside. Organizations can go through “growing pains” and organizational change is HARD, but how long does it really take to get an organization at least somewhat functional. This is one of the most questionable Places I’ve worked, which considering how high their budget is and how critical the work they are doing – well, it’s pretty alarming. If you are not in the C Suite (or a white male), respect for employees is minimal. The lack of respect and empowerment for younger and/or newer employees is palpable, which is ironic because the CEO has a background in youth empowerment. The organization hires many incompetent people that don’t know what they’re doing or spends lots of money on addressing issues in ways that are highly ineffective, while sidelining people who bring skill, knowledge, critical thought, passion, commitment and solutions, or investing in their employees in meaningful ways. Professional development plan is non-existent, and employee performance metrics are unclear and Inconsistently applied. Nonprofits have notoriously high turnover, but this has some of the highest I’ve seen given its relatively small size. When pay and benefits are good and that turnover still exists, you know THERE IS A PROBLEM. This leads to extreme messiness and disorganization, which other people are then expected to magically fix, without the resources they need to do so properly. They are then berated when they cannot fix things. CEO is all over the place, anxious, and highly defensive. Both staff and board keep getting more and more white, which is disturbing given its mission, where the office is located and who is served. Board helmed by an obnoxious, unimpressive individual, which again, given where the org located and the incredible talent in the Bay Area, is just confusing. Despite a relatively small staff and open floor plan in the office the org culture doesn't nurture collaboration, and communication is terrible. The organization also suffers from an identity crisis – is it corporate? Grassroots? Community based? Faith oriented? An advocacy org? Strong social justice leaning? Who knows?!? It would change its identity to take advantage of opportunities without real conversation of what any of that actually meant for the work. This permeated down into the work culture, the way the organization interacts with the community, the way it administers its programs, and how it treats its employees. The confusion, sloppiness, and unhealthy work environment were exhausting. Ultimately, this office gives a bad name to the brand. I wanted to love this job, but the negatives so outweighed the positives that it was nearly impossible to do so.