Pros
Company mission-one of few companies working as advocates for individuals with disabilities to join or rejoin the workforce. NTI is as an employment agency. Many Americans with disabilities throughout the country who would otherwise be unemployed are given the opportunity to feel useful again as well as have a source of income and contribute to the workforce. Core staff who work directly for NTI have very flexible work schedules and opportunities to work from home. As with most non-profit organizations the lower level staff who do the bulk of the grunt work aren't paid much, however this is made up for somewhat by strong benefits options with above average employer contributions for health and dental insurance. With time and increased benefits cost, this changed over the years but still better than what is offered in the Boston area. NTI firmly believes in promoting from within. This might not necessarily be the best idea when promoting under qualified individuals but it's nice to know that even in a small non profit there is opportunity for growth. Due to the size of the company organization there is ample opportunity for employees to cross train and wear multiple hats. In that sense the company is a good non profit for an individual right out of college to start out in in order to gain experience. Having gained some experience, an individual who has professional aspirations will likely leave the organization after a year or two.
Cons
Disorganized: For a company that as been in business for over 20 years there is no true structure. Change is good but change that is done randomly, every few months and without much thought to laws and all the changing factors is not good for the overall business structure. These changes are borderline unethical even. High Turnover: I am not referring to the turnover among the disabled staff. Within the core staff of no more than 45 employees the turnover has been higher than 70% over the past 2 years. The staff is now a shell of it's former self. A lot of this turnover was not due purely to mediocre salaries but more so bad management, inequity at many levels, pettiness at even the highest levels of management, and the tendency for top management to reward staff based on who behaves obsequiously, especially for one's own advantage rather than on performance. There have been quite a few cases of people being promoted, offered higher salary and yet they jump ship because of ineffective supervisors. Others have mentioned discrimination in their reviews-I did not want to focus on that but indeed there have been cases of discrimination which is very disturbing in this day and age. Advocacy: The mission is to advocate for disabled individuals but quite a few people have lost sight of why one works for NTI. I can count so many instances of management not truly advocating for these individuals, they are treated in some cases as just a number. Try to genuinely care, it is not that difficult to do. Under qualified Managers-it is quite distressing to see individuals who could not get a job at any reputable firm, who can barely put a proper sentence together and cannot write a performance review to save their lives, in director roles. Quite often the lower level staff is more competent than the department head. Staff get so discouraged at having to report to clueless department heads that they left the company rather than continue with the incompetence.
