Poor Management Has Driven This Organization into the Ground - Anonymous employee National Center for Learning Disabilities Employee Review

- Employees are not trusted to do their jobs (constant second guessing and being told what to do by leaders with a lack of knowledge or expertise of the space) - Leadership lacks focus, vision, and an understanding of basic business principles; initiatives often change based on whims - Lack of acknowledgement of employees' skill sets and talents, beyond what's written in their titles - Insufficient resources (a constant battle) - No clear path to promotion (you can either work there a year and be promoted multiple times or work hard for multiple years and never be promoted) - Raises are small and most don't receive bonuses - Tendency to hire over-qualified individuals for lower-level roles - Cramped space and tiny desks with no privacy; the office is housed in a residential building that was never meant to be an office space, which leads to a multitude of problems, including insufficient security - A "2005" mentality towards the Internet; very old-school views not aligned with contemporary technologies and user behaviors (despite "innovation" being a corporate value) - No internal HR means employee concerns aren't always heard or are often ignored and rarely addressed - Opportunities only typically offered to a certain few (lots of favoritism) - Leadership gets easily defensive at any criticism - Lack of transparency around Understood.org's status as a nonprofit (it's not, despite what is often stated both internally and externally) ("Transparency" and "integrity" are ironically two more corporate values) - Funding predominantly comes from a single source, making for an uncertain future and a bad business practice - Poor communication practices from leadership (e.g., major corporate changes or policies are typically announced in long, cumbersome e-mails without proper follow-up or the opportunity for employees to ask questions and gain clarity) - Tendency of repeating the same failed efforts, expecting different results - Based on many conversations with rank-and-file employees, most—if not all—of these above concerns are shared widely. Morale is a major problem and is not addressed by leadership in any meaningful or sustainable ways. (Birthday celebrations and a $100 store gift card once a year are superficial and do not address the bigger, underlying morale issues that are felt by most employees.) As of this writing, several employees—from junior to senior leadership—have departed within a few short months. Despite whatever reasons they may have given for their resignations, they've all shared many of these same frustrations behind closed doors.