Hopelink Reviews

3.1

40% would recommend to a friend

(109 total reviews)

Dr. Catherine Cushinberry

64% approve of CEO

30% positive business outlook

Hopelink has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 109 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Hopelink 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

109 reviews
2.0
8 May 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Frontline employees are coachable, mostly professional. The members of leadership that are willing to work together were successful in bringing the team together. Generally good people (but the actions of one or two bad employees are enough to sour that). Casual dress code. The company as a whole has fundamental and core values; my department did not.

Cons

My experience as a supervisor with Hopelink was, in a word, shocking. I worked in the transportation department and experienced scenarios and conversations that simply do not belong in the workplace. As an outside hire that would join the leadership team, it became quickly clear to me that the executive leadership team wanted to mold their department by promoting individuals based on personal relationships and preferences as opposed to their actual qualifications and what would best support the overall business needs of the call center. My onboarding experiences was non-existent. Many of the positions in this department, including that of a Customer Service Supervisor, are overworked, underpaid, and undervalued. You are not encouraged to have a voice and you are discouraged from asking questions or advising on how to effectively improve current processes. There seemed to be a giant magnifying glass on my colleagues and I; this felt unhealthy and targeted and more like an attempt to deflect the insecurities and shortcomings of the Senior Manager onto us. Hopelink preaches "equitable" decision-making; this was not my experience. After being handpicked for a role to which they were not qualified, the Senior Manager would spend the next ten months (and my remaining ten months) creating a culture of hostility, toxicity, unprofessionalism and aggression. There is no integrity and no accountability where it matters the most. I escalated my concerns to executive leadership, as well as Human Resources, to whom I provided a detailed list of more than ten examples of inappropriate behavior in the workplace, but nothing was done to improve the working situation that had been created for my colleagues and I. Some members of the leadership team as a whole were dysfunctional. I was personally threatened with violence by a department trainer, who would also threaten violence towards their own manager; this individual, who maintains a close and personal relationship with the Senior Manager, has since been promoted to replace the role I left vacant. At this juncture, I had completely lost faith in the executive leadership of my department, as well as the lack of responsiveness and support from the Human Resources team. It became clear that the only way the department would change for the better, would be to remove myself from that environment completely. I wasn't the first to do this, and I certainly will not be the last.

1.0
22 Mar 2015

Drive for Anyone Else

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You get to meet some interesting people when you drive for Hopelink.

Cons

1) The HR department will manipulate anything you say or present to them to favor the company or management. 2) Bullying- it's been mentioned before- but the workplace is rife with bullies at all levels. 3) Poor pay- any other driving job will pay better. Driving a school bus part time will net you a larger income. 4) Even knowing that they would be laying people off they continued to hire- even though those new hires would be the first to be cut from the workforce. 5) Get sick- get fired. 6) Like the shift you bid on? Too bad- they have no problem treating you as on-call when you're not- and it would be remiss of you to refuse to drive from Kirkland to Kent to drive a three hour run.

2.0
19 Dec 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It can feel good to be part of an organization that is helping people in need in the community. Hopelink really does that through the many types of services it provides to people in need, from food to shelter to transportation to tutoring and life skills. Many Hopelink employees are committed to the organization's mission of serving people, and do their best to accomplish it. In some groups, there can be a good sense of teamwork, though things vary greatly from group to group and department to department.

Cons

The organization turns away many people in need because it simply does not have the resources to serve them. This problem is especially serious when times are bad economically. Then, there are fewer donations and yet there are more people who need to help. Even though the organization does help many people get by and helps a small number of people turn their lives around, Hopelink simply cannot make a significant dent in the problems of homelessness and poverty in the area where it operates. It often seems like a band aid, and this can be demoralizing. Hopelink is generally reluctant to get involved in issues in the community that can be controversial, such as tent cities of homeless people. However, when homelessness is so prevalent and the major social services organization in the area is afraid to talk about it, it loses much of its relevance. There are few opportunities for advancement for most employees. It is pretty hierarchical and there usually isn't a chance to develop one's career and move up. HR is pretty useless in terms of training or help with career development -- they offer occasional touchy feely programs, but nothing helpful. HR can also be petty. I saw one back-office employee (a very hard-working and respected woman who happened to be a single mother) punished for a hair color that HR found unacceptable. It seemed the height of hypocrisy that she should have to worry about providing for her children because Hopelink's HR department didn't like her appearance, especially since she didn't have contact with the public. Pay at most jobs at Hopelink is poor. In fact, many employees earn so little that they would be eligible for many of the organization's services. Only directors seemed to be paid adequately. Health insurance is not very affordable for many Hopelink employees, particularly for their family members. For low-paid employees, the lack of subsidy for insurance premiums for family members can make them almost as vulnerable as some of the people the organization is meant to serve. Communication and coordination across departments is generally inadequate. Transportation, for example, views itself as almost a separate organization and is not all that well integrated into the rest of Hopelink. There is little innovation and many people seem to feel that the safest way to work is to keep doing things the way that they have always been done. There seems to be a concern that upper management will punish people who try to innovate, even if the old way is not working well. There is high turnover in many non-managerial positions. Dissatisfaction with compensation and other issues mentioned above surely contribute to this, but management doesn't seem to take these seriously.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 109 Reviews

Glassdoor has 113 Hopelink reviews submitted anonymously by Hopelink employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Hopelink is right for you.