NICHQ Reviews

Pros

Great CEO and HR

Cons

Lack of Diversity and support for HR and Admin staff

Pros

I can’t think of one Pro comment to share.

Cons

The CEO and COO were the rudest and manipulative people I have ever worked for. Both were out right rude and only perceived to be driven to what the organization worked for when they entertained prospective donors. I had to papers tossed at me, glared looks, rolled eyes at me, both COO and CEO asked for me to schedule time with them and then never were at the meeting, canceled last minute or just said they were too busy. How can anyone do a good job with no guidance?

Pros

Working to support/fulfill a deeply compelling mission across many areas of children’s health and healthcare. The organization attracts very smart and passionate people with deep content and other expertise. Including employees, board members, and other collaborators. They bring so much to their work and helping kids and families. I learned a great deal. It’s wonderful that many bright people build great knowledge and skills at NICHQ for a few years and launch into other awesome work in nonprofits, government and other places to continue to help kids and families in health and beyond.

Cons

Small/medium nonprofits (all that I’ve worked at) are challenged to build and maintain a diverse funding base. It is not unique to NICHQ and not unexpected given the type of work and being in midst of a robust non-profit sector. Growth in funding diversity improved recently at NICHQ and bodes well for the future. It can be hard in such sized organizations to create enough capacity for day to day work and bigger vision work. Building a team based on needs and strengths goes a long way and was also improving at NICHQ and bodes well for the future.

Pros

The only pro I can think of is the NICHQ mission of improving healthcare for children and their families. A noble mission, for sure, but I wasn't there long enough to determine how effective the organization is in achieving their goals.

Cons

Gosh… where to begin. Though I worked there a few days, it was a memorable experience – for all the wrong reasons. To start, the other employees in the office were not very friendly, which could be a sign of them being very overworked and stressed, or they may just be that unfriendly. Then there’s the physical environment. Cramped, stuffy office; a single two-stalled women’s bathroom used by at least 30 people on a daily basis – need I say what it smells like by the end of the day? Tiny kitchen with refrigerator stuffed with old food. There is a ‘kitchen fairy’ volunteer schedule, where employees sign up for kitchen clean up duty every week. However, like the ladies’ rest room, it’s a very small resource used by too many people. My first day, I was given a brief tour of the office, then plopped down at the front reception desk. I was asked to go through all of the prior email messages to figure out ‘what needed to be done’ in my new role, which was provide admin support to and manage the calendars of the CEO and COO. Funny thing is, what I noticed most was how many people had cycled through this role in the past year. I counted eight since August 2017 (!) And the email address name for this role? 'officetemp@.....' And then there’s the guy who runs it all – the CEO. To describe him as arrogant would be kind. Example: when a package was slipped under the door, he pushed it into the reception area with his foot, let me know it was on the floor, and actually asked me if I was going to come over to ‘pick it up’. I’m sure he sensed my my incredulity to his ‘request’, as he then claimed to have back problems and didn’t want to injure himself bending over to pick up the package. I didn't have much interaction with the COO. She seemed like a nice enough woman.