First Book Reviews

First Book has had four rounds of layoffs since 2008 due to organizational restructuring. There is very low morale at the organization and high turnover within positions. Each time there is a lay off, dedicated and hard-working directors and tenured employees are shown the door to alleviate budget woes due to poor investments in technology and programming. Coordinators and managers are given one of the few opportunities to be promoted from within and are thrust into their new role having never managed people. They have to do twice the work for far less compensation and very little investment in how to help them be a leader and motivate their new team. Senior leadership plays favorites and really does all but ignore staff that's below VP level and there is no chance to provide 360 degree feedback on your supervisor or the organization. Junior staff try their best, but institutionally HR and Operations processes are confusing and lack any long term planning. After several years, I still don’t know what my vision benefits were and I gave up trying to find out from HR and just paid for my own eye exam. Operationally, it’s also not uncommon for interns to have their own offices and salaried employees to sit in the hallway or share a very small space with 8 others while other offices remain completely empty for months at a time and other teams enjoy large expansive work spaces that could be utilized better. One large publisher’s financial support in the form of remainder donations keep the lights on at First Book.

Organizational structure is awful. There are a ton of VPs (many of whom are wonderful to work with), but really, the power lives within a small, closed group of three members of the executive team. You can get the ear of one of the executive team, but usually only if you are new and a "golden child." That privilege is often short lived, however. A majority of the employees at First Book have very little autonomy to make a true difference beyond their assigned duties. Until the leadership structure changes, I don't see good things ahead for the organization. You get the feeling they don't care, though. Shame.