Community Gatepath reviews

A lot of flowery talk and empty promises but constantly poor results. The 5star review that was written was probably written by someone from management because it sounds exactly like the kind of language that we usually hear from them. You ask a question and the answer you get is usually vague and unspecific. Whenever I get an email about someone that is getting laid off or another director that's leaving, I always see buzz words like dedication, passion, and opportunity. Directors don't leave because of the ridiculous workload "they go off to pursue other opportunities." Our bosses don't remember the specifics of what we accomplished during the year, so they praise us for our hardwork, passion, and dedication. So much money is spent on appearances but not on trying to keep good staff from leaving. Visit our office in Redwood City. It's beautiful. High ceilings, pictures of participants on the walls, high tech equipment. Then visit any of the adult centers or job sites that they work at. Staff are running around trying to figure out what their going to do that day. Equipment are outdated. I've personally witnessed dozens of high ranking managers quit or get fired in the over 4 years I've worked at Gatepath. We never hear why the managers left. We never get to give our input on how we can help solve that problem. HR is especially unhelpful. One of my coworkers lost a family member so she called HR about how many days off she can get. In a rude tone, HR told her that she should have talked to her boss about the issue. The biggest issue for me is how disconnected management is from their staff. I've worked at a good amount of nonprofits, and I've never seen that before. When there's a big change coming, my bosses used to let me know over a month in advance so I can prepare. When big changes happen in Gatepath, we don't usually find out until a week before it happens. What's worse is that people usually know several weeks in advance. My coworkers come up with so many good ideas and management pretends to listen to them but eventually ignores them. I've worked at other nonprofit jobs where we created entire departments based on comments from staff.

This is NOT a company that puts staff (direct care/middle management) first. Competent staff that have been with the agency for 10-15 years continue to make $12-13 an hour, when starting employees make $15 with no experience (same level of education). There is a glass ceiling for staff and very little training is provided. The mentality is typically "what we can get away with" or "finding the loop holes" rather than "support team." -Promotions are possible through "reorgs," where secret planning is conducted, promotions are promised behind closed doors, and announced later. Sometimes promotions are not announced at all (people find out by the title change at the bottom of an employees e-mail signature). This has led to excessive low morale amongst staff when significantly under qualified staff are promoted (sometimes when their friends blatantly promote them). Even though management has communicated there are no more 'reorgs,' this continues to happen every summer. The company eliminates critical positions, demotes staff without a discussion - all behind closed doors! Then there is a flyer e-mailed out to reflect new and often detrimental changes. -EXTREMELY HIGH turnover across the board (from direct care to executive staff). I can think of at least 8 current employees that are looking for a new job. Many employees have reported depression and/or developed drinking problems after starting work with the company. My guess is because of feeling stuck or demoralised from upper management (HR, executive team, directors). -Marketing, the executive team, and CEO often avoid interaction with clients, typically the adults with developmental disabilities and direct care staff. These people are also highly disconnected from programming (may have never been to the programs). -Clients that are picked for public awards are usually ones that are "easy on the eyes." The agency recently started striving for "world class services," but they fail to invest money in training staff or hiring individuals with specialities in these "world class" areas.The CEO typically runs with an idea that management is expected to implement in a few short weeks. They consistently start new programs without a pilot run, thoughtful brainstorms, or asking critical staff members what is working.