Year Up Reviews

Pros

Health Benefits, Culture, Mission, Salary, Non-Profit

Advice to Management

NA

Pros

Free Healthcare, Professional Development Funds, Committed Employees

Advice to Management

Listen to "line staff" or "non people managers. Not just on surveys, have conversations face to face regarding decisions for site operations. Staff come with a wealth of knowledge. They often know more then senior managers based on previous work experience and because they are on the ground doing the work.

Pros

Cool place with excellent students and staff.
Diverse environment.
Room for lots of growth.

Pros

• Diverse work staff
• Excellent benefits
• WFH schedules
• The students!

Advice to Management

The PTC model is half-baked. Acknowledge it. It would do far better for employee morale than putting a band-aid on every fire with smiles. The growth metrics to be attained for the Blue Meridian investment isn't as attainable as we'd like to believe. We are admitting students who aren't ready for the program, partnering with colleges that don't take us seriously, and all of the effects trickle down through each department causing stress.

Also, praise your employees and value them just as regularly as you're quick to provide "feedback" (read: criticism) to them.

Pros

The most amazingly talented students and hard-working colleagues. The model is a great mission unfortunately there’s very little left of that in present day

Advice to Management

*Stop hiring to the board decks. ED’s and decision-makers need to come from social enterprise work. Leave the corporate things to the corporate partnership people but have every single thing and program run by people trained and skilled and dedicated in the work of closing the opportunity divide.
*Start unpacking for real white privilege. Diversity work is not left of the people of color it is the work of the white people, almost all of whom are in leader ship. It was such an on healthy culture of trying to hire for diversity get understanding nothing about white privilege in all of those people that work in management and even some in program.
* when you make a decision that affects program be sure to pull in the partners from program. Whoever made the decision to dismantle the core and hand off the number one most important part of the program - 99% of student time is soent with instructors, Learning so much more than just technical skills - to community colleges could not have asked educators, instructors and those skilled in the field .
* The favoritism and inconsistent hiring practices must be looked at from an outside lands. It’s kind of sick and incredibly demoralizing.
*You don’t have an exit interview strategy in place. Forget glass door here, you should have a thoughtful and compensatory exit interview protocol so you can learn from those leaving the organization weather by choice or not. Where is the responsibility on hiring managers when someone doesn’t work out in less than a year? Who is training hiring managers? Who is fully understanding what it takes to hire onboard develop and retain new staff? How much of someone’s plate has been set aside for this important project?

Pros

The most wonderful students and colleagues. A chance to make a real difference in the lives of young people. Great health insurance & money for professional development and training.

Advice to Management

Stop running the organization as a business. Bigger is not always better. Core conversions is a mistake and you'll look back and see that. Hire leaders who have a proven record success in social change: retiring banking VPs are not the leaders you need.

Pros

Year Up can teach you a lot. Being professional, being mindful. This place is awesome and the staff there really cares. Year Up will work with you if meet half them half way.

Pros

There are some experienced and well-qualified individuals that are passionate about the mission

Observable growth from students

Advice to Management

Fully support the mission, or find new jobs.

Echoing the prior reviews, national needs to intervene soon; do more than a workshop or send an email; and NO MORE SURVEYS (we are over them....and you do nothing with our responses.)

Focus on the mission or you will continue to lose valuable staff that actually do their job

Start hiring people who are qualified and can do the work, not just someone you can steamroll.

In my short time with the organization, I have yet to see the revolving door stop spinning. People are leaving faster than the leadership team chooses work from home days.

Pros

Virtuous mission goal. Dedicated direct service staff.

Advice to Management

Find leadership that have demonstrated commitment to social justice goals rather than leadership that demonstrate commitment to the organization/CEO.

Pros

- an important mission
- opportunity to have a real impact
- talented colleagues
- inspiring students

Advice to Management

Listen to staff, students and alumni who have been ringing the alarm for some time. remember Gerald's words that young adults are our primary stakeholders. Open yourself to new models for leadership. Train managers and hold them accountable to specific behavioral and performance standards.