Run, don't walk away - Anonymous employee OPERA America Employee Review

1.0
10 Mar 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent benefits. Most colleagues are friendly and care about their work.

Cons

Lack of effective management from the top down. Constant staff turnover (most managers last barely a year). Lack of resources to execute overly ambitious plans. Unfocused mission. Burnt out colleagues who are constantly searching for jobs to escape. A concern with presenting a perfect image to the public, board, and members instead of providing genuine service. Projects driven by the whims of the CEO, many of which are abandoned later. Mediocre salaries. CEO is a smart, expert speaker and one of the most knowledgeable people about the opera field, but not an effective manager. He micromanages, belittles his staff in passive aggressive ways and is unreceptive to ideas that clash with his own. It's his way or the highway. He blames internal problems on everyone but himself. He's petty and holds grudges. The dept. directors are constantly in survival mode, doing what they can to please the CEO while becoming exhausted and overworked in the process. It creates a suffocating environment. The offices are newish but were designed with little consideration of staff needs or comfort.

Explore other reviews about OPERA America

4.0
18 July 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Wonderful and inspiring senior staff, including the CEO; incredible networking opportunities if you're interested in opera; colleagues all very pleasant and nice to work with; all full-time admin staff are typically given raises every year.

Cons

Organization is complex with a lot going on, so it's easy to get lost in the mix; as a service organization that oversees the opera industry, the work is not always as exciting as a producing organization

1
1.0
14 May 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

their employees are their saving grace, outside of leadership of course.

Cons

Misogynistic, and weirdly stuck in this older closed minded thinking orbit of the CEO. Please if you are a woman of color run in the opposite direction of this place. I would spend days crying in the bathroom, they exposed me to mold at one point. Senior staff would frequently come into work sick and in turn affect junior staff. At one point they installed new carpets and didn’t properly ventilate our desk areas because the only windows are in the offices of senior leadership. The ceo is quite literally the most petty, horrible, passive aggressive person I’ve ever met. If you are desperate get in there and get out as soon as you can.

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