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      A Wider Circle

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      A Wider Circle Reviews

      3.5

      53% would recommend to a friend

      (49 total reviews)
      avatar

      Amy Javaid

      100% approve of CEO

      47% positive business outlook

      A Wider Circle has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 49 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The A Wider Circle employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Non-profit and NGO industry (3.7 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      49 reviews
      1.0
      18 May 2018

      Coordinator

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Good colleagues, good mission, direct service.

      Cons

      Poor management, overworked staff. While the direct service at A Wider Circle is heartwarming, working here was a very frustrating experience overall. The environment takes advantage of inexperienced young professionals who may not yet know how to advocate for themselves. No one gets into this line of work for money, but the emphasis on low overhead was a reminder of how poorly employees were compensated. Attempts at maintaining a work-life balance were seen as lack of commitment to the work, Decision-making power is in the hands of one or perhaps two people, despite the many smart and dedicated folks who work there. I was often disappointed in the board, who was aware of the working conditions but did not advocate for the staff. Turnover will remain high in this environment, which is paradoxically toxic to employees while warm to the outside community (volunteers/clients). No HR or neutral party to resolve complaints or concerns.

      avatar
      A Wider Circle Response
      8y
      First, thank you for helping and for serving as part of the team. Second, and most importantly, we are very sorry for this having been a frustrating experience for you. We have let you down, and that is not what we ever want to do. For you to feel as you do is something we take very seriously and will always try to better ourselves in response. When someone has a bad experience or feels we do not respect people of all ages who work here, that is very concerning. And your comments are helpful; we will do our best to ensure that everyone feels valued and able to help in the work here and in the overall movement to end poverty. We do share the decision-making and get many opinions before we decide on almost every issue. That may not be apparent, but it is the case. Even this response - and any response we write as a public comment - will have multiple pairs of eyes before we submit. There is much more consensus than it seems for all that we do, and that is true for programmatic, personnel, and all strategic decisions. We can understand if it does not seem that way, but it is the case. We also have a large number of people who grow in the organization, and who stay longer than originally planned, and that increases every year. We also have people who state up front they want to work for a year and then who remain longer - though for some this does not work out well, and they do leave sooner. That is not something we ever love to see. Clearly we are not as good as we can be in our support of every team member, and comments like this can help us get there. We do have a person who leads all of our HR, and we can be better at helping the team to know how they can take complaints or issues to that person. We always try to pay as much as we can pay for every person who works here; again, we understand your thoughts on that and will always look at how we are supporting those who come to serve here. We certainly want everyone to feel respected and valued. We are going all-out in responding to poverty as the crisis it is; no question about that. And your comments clearly come from a place of compassion for others, and we respect that.
      1.0
      5 Feb 2019

      Horrible Leadership, work environment

      Client service associate
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Rewarding work, great people to work with

      Cons

      Founder is too involved and a bad manager, unequal and toxic work environment, no ability to move up, founder doesn't listen to ideas for improvement from employees who want to help the clients more

      avatar
      A Wider Circle Response
      7y
      I am sorry you feel this way. As the founder and the focus of your concerns, I wanted to share a few thoughts in reply. While I have worked hard to build an organization that works with the urgency that poverty demands, I have seen my imperfections and mistakes. I understand the sentiments here and feel badly that you left having felt that you were not listened to. That was never the intent, and I hope you can get that sense here. Or, please feel free to reach out any time if you would like to discuss further. Today, there are many levels of leadership in each department, and I believe that all leaders encourage team members to share ideas and to implement them as their teams determine it will be helpful to do so. And decisions in each department are made by those departmental leaders, perhaps with their supervisors providing support if needed. I am rarely involved in these departmental decisions, but I do know that everyone’s opinions are valued. Perhaps it was not as much the case when you were here, but there are many opportunities to move up in the organization, and many of our leaders today did indeed start in entry-level positions. Of our 24 senior positions, 18 are filled by people who have moved up from entry-level positions, and several of them have been here since they entered the workforce. I wish I had been able to communicate better with you. I certainly try to be as respectful and encouraging as possible of every team member and to actively listen to all the ideas that come into my office. I will keep seeking to grow and ensure that to the best of our individual and collective abilities, we build a movement to end poverty while providing support for our team and loving, impactful services each day to those who call for assistance.
      3.0
      22 Dec 2016

      Former Program Associate

      Program associate
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      The best co-workers I have ever worked with. A very special team of people working to give furniture to people in need. It is a one of a kind place working to directly and simply to give to those in need.

      Cons

      Spent a lot of time taking garbage furniture to the dump (40-50% of an average day). Time that could have been spent picking up good furniture to stock the showroom to make sure clients received furniture they waited a year on the waiting list for. Work harder not smarter mentality with sometimes grueling labor practices. Catered to rich donors donating garbage and gave them a tax receipt. More focused on the game of inflating in-kind donation numbers than screening donors for quality furniture. Management did not even pretend to listen to concerns and suggestions of staff to make daily operations more efficient to pick up only good furniture to stock the showroom.

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      ReviewsA Wider Circle reviews

      Glassdoor has 58 A Wider Circle reviews submitted anonymously by A Wider Circle employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if A Wider Circle is right for you.