Environment America Reviews

Abysmal salary and benefits; rampant corruption; flawed ideology; toxic and abusive culture; overt hostility toward incorporation of basic diversity/equity/inclusion/justice principles; idiodic organizational structure; systemic incompetence; and leadership's willful rejection of common-sense improvements that could make this a passable workplace. Environment America (EA) and its parent organization, The Public Interest Network (TPIN), are completely broken. Here is a small sampling of what a job at TPIN looks like: -Entry-level employees are paid the bare minimum of what TPIN can legally get away with in a given state. It is not a living wage, and there is no cost of living adjustment for expensive cities. Pay is slightly higher for more experienced staff, but scales very poorly and is a mere fraction of what other nonprofits pay for similar roles. Senior managers assert that they too have comparably low salaries, though many benefit from multiple TPIN checks by holding multiple roles simultaneously, sitting on boards, etc. Doug Phelps, CEO and leader of the TPIN cult, also runs a for-profit canvassing operation that provides some in senior management with additional sources of income. TPIN’s non-profit resources are frequently used to subsidize this for-profit operation. -New employees do not receive a written offer letter, only a verbal description of the job and their compensation. It is not unusual for management to spontaneously change an employee's compensation, omit key details of what the employee's job will entail, or renege on previous verbal promises. -On mandatory work trips, employees are forced to share a full-size bed with another adult for up to two weeks. There is no per diem for meals. These periodic trainings and meetings in Denver, Colorado happen 2-4 times per year. New staff are often directed to pay for their own plane ticket without reimbursement. -There is a screening question often used in interviews: "Is it more important to move to a zero carbon society as fast as possible or to make sure our transition to a zero-carbon society is just for all?" Shockingly, picking "just" will be treated as an incorrect answer. Points are deducted. This is one example of the organization's hostility toward environmental justice and its proponents. -There is no Human Resources department. There is no harassment policy. All problems must be directed to one's immediate supervisor, even if the issue in question is with that supervisor. EA and TPIN's parasitic business model is to recruit ideological recent graduates who do not yet have the professional perspective to realize how bizarre this workplace truly is. The organization plans for approximately 50% turnover each year. The organization uses this attrition to self-select those who are willing to tolerate the cultish atmosphere. And to be clear: this organization is absolutely a cult. CEO Doug Phelps and his sycophants are holy, and alternate points of view are not tolerated. The organization continues to force employees to share beds because that is the way that Doug Phelps and his college buddies did it. If you don’t like it, then leave. Frighteningly, management maintains an internal "culture fit" blacklist to inventory employees who do not align well enough with the organization’s prevalent conservative ideology. TPIN monitors employees’ personal social media accounts to identify sympathizers of Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and adds employees to the blacklist if they “like” or “retweet” content affirming the Movement for Black Lives. Management uses this blacklist for all major decisions: whom they promote, whom they invite to join the board, and whom they terminate. Employees who have fully bought into the cult are asked to spy on other employees, and their reports are used to further inform the blacklist. This organization is toxic. If you have any other options, do not take a job at Environment America.