National Cooperative Business Association Reviews

Current Employee – been working at National Cooperative Business Association full-time for less than a year

Pros – Nice working enviornment, flexible working time.

Cons – Pay rate is low given it is NGO

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at National Cooperative Business Association

Pros – There has been extremely high turnover (above 50%) so there may be new attitudes and opportunities coming in. Remains to be seen. Work life balance if great, as there is no accountability, people come and go as they please when the please and do the work they want if they want. The HQ staff is young and full of energy, and when allowed by senior management to move forward with new initiatives, come up with great innovate and fun projects. There is also a lot so community building going on at present.

Cons – The organization is fragmented and headed by poor leadership. Decision are made in non-trasparent ways, and often with zero strategy or follow up behind them. If part of the international team (90% of the business) you can expect to have to fight to get any required resources, as the board and organization constantlly deflect resources to other parts of the organization that do no support themselves. Middle management is often scapegoated for the failings of consistent mismanagement on the part of friends of senior management. There is zero accountabiity, until and unless there is a crisis, and then often, someone not responsable gets the blame on their soldiers. There is very little attention paid to M&E or measuring the impact of the work done. To change anything in this organization is a long and complicated process, that often doesn't even work. There is also no continuity. One plan is put in place and rolled out, and even before it is given the change to succeed or fail, senior management changes course out of no where.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at National Cooperative Business Association

Pros – Great mission that supports an excellent business model. Great benefits for a non-profit association. Prime location for working in the city.

Cons – Salaries way too high at the top and take up way too much of the entire budget.
Too many VPs managing less than 5 employees--it's a very top heavy organization.
An oversized Board of Directors prevents the organization from enahncing its strategies to grow membership as decisions take too long to implement because the executives lack the ability run the Carver Model of Board ownership.
Lack of accountability.
Organization does not work to achieve its goals, it works to make payroll budget, which is a vicious cycle to manage.

Advice to Senior Management – Replace the entire senior leadership team with people who have had more direct experience with co-ops in recent years and who understand public policy and membership sales.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at National Cooperative Business Association

Pros – NCBA promotes a strong work-life balance; employees are trusted to make the decisions as to when they need to take time off. Staff generally believes in the mission of the organization and is passionate about supporting positive change and developments in cooperative businesses both on the domestic and international sides. Entry and mid-level employees have greater responsibilities and are exposed to a greater range of activities than in similar firms.

Cons – Low compensation and an unstructured employee training program has a negative impact on employee moral.
Also senior management leadership is often weak or reactive rather than proactive. Senior management is sometimes out of touch with the realities and needs of lower level employees. As a result there has been a high turnover lately.

Advice to Senior Management – To develop a vision for staff development that is consistent with the mission and vision of the organization as a whole.