Academy for Educational Development Employee Review

Former Employee – worked at Academy for Educational Development

Pros – Benefits are OK, and the educational development benefit is useful; it pays for conference attendance or professional memberships.

Cons – Overall chaos and disorganization prevailed at AED even prior to their being banned from receiving further USAID funding. After that, even worse conditions developed. Payment of reimbursements and postal allowances (for working in a dangerous foreign environment) were delayed or denied for no apparent reason. Communication between management and employees became adversarial and fraught with mistrust. Promises had been made by middle managers in conflict with AED policy and resulted in employee disenchantment. Employees' adverse reactions to being lied to were not validated.
A bait & switch approach to salary information was used to attract employees to positions as contractors, then they were switched to regular employees at greatly reduced salaries. Employees were expected to develop educational programs without access to libraries or textbooks. Orders for materials were delayed by months due to bureaucratic inaction.
Employees in a country known for terrorist activity were housed in unsafe conditions and transported without safety precautions as recommended by their own emergency insurance plan.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire managers who do not see their relationship to employees as an adversarial one. Get better contract writers; contract terms were unclear and unreasonable because the contract was written by someone without experience on the ground in the host country and without an educational background. Make sure that communication with employees is honest and is conducted on a professional level by all employees. Do not place managers in a position for which they are not qualified. Take better care of overseas staff members.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend