Listen to the “naysayers & ship jumpers”, to the people who loved it and left and look at why.
Pros
The best part of OCHIN is the people, the staff (not the management) and many of the hundreds of people who have left the organization. That’s about it. The CEO tries to implement cool initiatives based on feedback and observing what other companies are doing. It’s a nice thought but it falls short with resources in both people and budget EVERY single time. Take all of the “pros” with the understanding most, if not all of those pros, are fleeting. They can and will change with the budget and resource caveat in conjunction with the ever changing “mood of the leadership”, how busy the organization is, if the staff “hasn’t been appreciative enough” of “how good they have it”, if the staff isn’t “working hard enough” or any other absolutely arbitrary “reason”. Pros are often a meaningful and a stable element of an organization. The only thing stable about OCHIN is how unstable it is. But that, you can count on. If you like a crazy, disloyal, toxic organization, by all means, join up!
Cons
1. OCHIN is a nonprofit with a mission. This mission is only represented in the work of the staff and a handful of the ELT = C suite / Executive Leadership Team. It does not drive the organization any longer. 2. The CXO (sales) oversells and under-delivers. Consideration for staffing, resources, ability and development of processes and tools are not evaluated or understood by her. Staff are aware the CXO receives a sales percentage bonus for every contract signed done on the hardworking backs of staff. She presses forward for larger and larger clients and leaves the smaller potential clients behind, not even returning calls for information. While signing big clients may seem like a positive business strategy, resources are not properly allocated every time and for the duration of the install and maintenance. The mission is to help all clinics, not just the large ones. But, it’s the large ones that fund those executive bonuses. 3. Compensation raises are usually small if at all and is often arbitrary among who is a team “favorite” or who OCHIN doesn’t want to quit within the next few months. Compensation is mostly low for the industry but staff are still made to feel bad if they ask for additional pay even when based on performance, workload and seniority. 4. ELT compensation is high and not representative of their actual work, ethics, experience and competence in several positions. They give themselves bonuses and some brag to the staff. 5. Leadership treats people unprofessionally, are not accountable for their deliverables, their actions and inaction, their words, and can and do say anything they wish with no regard of workplace appropriate behavior. 6. Many ELT members gossip and have told lies to and about staff. An example many times, saying former employees were “fired” when they resigned. HR issues should not be discussed for any reason. 7. Human Resources violations abound. 8. Workloads are unsustainable and you will be made to feel bad for working less than 55+ hours unless you are hourly (billing). 9. Some leaders take actual joy in mistreating people, boasting and laughing about it after to others (VP Pubic Affairs). 10. Promises made to staff regarding promotions, certs and trainings, participation in company sponsored programs for school programs, pay raises, vacation time & anything else OCHIN so deems can be revoked at any time. 11. OCHIN engages in questionable business practices. 12. OCHIN is operated on moods, whims and reactive behavior in fear of the CEO. 13. The CEO has an egregiously unqualified leadership team in many departments. The CEO knows this but is inactionable in addressing it. They are her “yes” people. 14. OCHIN’s “values” are largely only practiced by the staff. Leadership is never the example of the values and are not shy about why they shouldn’t have to be models of the value based behavior standards they created. 15. OCHIN often does not give defined job roles setting people up to fail while blaming the job holder for the failure. Training and continued ed, a promoted company program, are approved inequitably. Attempts to clarify roles are often met with resistance sometimes leading to termination. 16. Having a culture with “work life balance” is promoted but absent for the majority of the staff. Yet members of the ELT complain loudly about how “hard they have it”, comparing themselves to their own team members and other execs. 17. Leadership often (usually the CEO) will actually yell at staff they are displeased with. The “silent treatment” is applied as punishment. This behavior is practiced openly. 18. Failures are blamed on those trying to accomplish the work, never mgmt. 19. Communication is abysmal due to the moody and reactive leadership. Communication is rarely proactive. There is no hope here. 20. OCHIN is a toxic work place & environment from the top down. The workloads are not appropriate or sustainable and hiring needs are not met, with a consistently large turnover.
