Pros
Had I written this review any time prior to the arrival of the current CEO, I would have spoken about the overall supportive culture and incredible people, the genuine attempts to adhere to the idealism of mission and values, the opportunities for advancement and exploration of new career paths through internal hiring, scholarships, and so much more. Now, I have nothing more to say than "you'll get a paycheck and some benefits... but not nearly as much as you could elsewhere, and not nearly as much as the inexplicably growing executive team, which enjoys 6 figure salaries, unlimited vacation, and continues to promote and support a fearmongering, toxic culture under the guise of systemic change"
Cons
The biggest detriment to Verity over the past few years has been the arrival of the new CEO. The announcement of Tonita Webb's impending arrival was met with a lot of concern and heartbreak, but staff were told to give her a chance, which they largely did for the first year. Here are some highlights since then: - Rampant turnover. In addition to the loss of a vast majority of the most tenured staff/leaders, entire departments have either turned over entirely or been removed from the organization. Insinuations have been made that these were due to burnout or because they were "contributing to the pre-existing toxic culture of Verity." Nothing could be less true (as evident by all of the previous years survey results, awards, etc.) - apart from, perhaps, the burnout from dealing with the new culture created by the CEO. - Breakdown in communication. Despite the CEO claiming to have an open door policy, not only are questions no longer being answered by the executive team, but if questions ARE asked directly, people can expect a backlash. - Top heavy. Despite so much turnover, the organization continues to add more and more senior and executive leadership, but members, middle management, and front line staff have yet to see much if any payoffs from having all this additional "expertise." No improvements, no additional tools/products, resources or anything to justify the investment of so much of the members' resources. - Incompetence/Long Term Damage veiled as good DEI work. Like so many organizations, Verity has been attempting to improve their DEI efforts. This was necessary and a good thing for them to do - particularly as a financial institute! Unfortunately, the approach that the CEO has spearheaded can be summed up as the language police, obvious favoritism, and a culture that promotes retaliation, shame, manipulation, and the rejection of allies. Think peak McCarthyism. When the approach has been challenged, the CEO says that they are speaking for all of the historically silenced and under represented people. Many of those under represented people (members of the LGBTQIA+, Latin, Asian, Muslim, Jewish, Black, bi-racial, Neurodivergent, disabled, etc. - including myself - would disagree and ask you - again! - not to speak for us).