PAWS Chicago Reviews

- Employee morale has been at an ultimate low for years. - Health insurance is very costly for employees, and the plans are not great with very high deductibles. - The majority of workspaces still utilize desktop machines, rather than laptops, so there isn’t much opportunity, if any at all, to work remotely. During the winter months, it is made known by the Human Resources department by way of an e-mail reminder that if you can’t make it into the office due to unfavorable weather conditions, you need to use your PTO for the day. - Workweeks of 50+ hours are very common among development staff, and the company started doing away with comp time for late nights worked due to smaller events, board meetings, etc. under the guise of such things being “part of the job.” - There is absolutely zero appreciation for the additional time that you put into your job outside of a normal 40-hour workweek. As long as your responsibilities are being fulfilled, it does not matter what it took to make it happen. - Everyone appears to be expendable. If you can’t handle your responsibilities, they will find someone with a cheaper price tag who can. - Staffing decisions have been known to be based on reasons other than business needs. In 2016, executive leadership hired a personal friend with zero qualifications or experience in non-profit to oversee the entire development building. - Staff turnover even at the highest levels of the organization has been incessant. In 2016 alone, the company voluntarily lost at least nine senior level positions: two Chief level, six Directors and one Officer. Some had not even been in their roles for a full year before realizing the toxicity levels of their work environment, which stems primarily from a complete lack of respect from leadership. - The HR department is a completely unsupportive resource for employees across the organization. The HR department also provides personal support to leadership, such as house sitting and dog walking/sitting, both inside and outside of working hours. Because this is a known circumstance, it does make it very difficult to approach or trust the HR department with confidential concerns. - There is a severe lack of communication among all PAWS Chicago locations. Staff announcements are rarely made for new hires or separations. It is not uncommon at all to find out someone had left the company a month or more prior, yet you’re still giving out their name and forwarding calls to them. - The company does not promote a family-friendly environment at all and there isn’t even an attempt at fostering any work-life balance. If you are planning to start or grow your family, it’s been observed numerous times that this is not preferred. Maternity leave has generally been viewed as a negative for the company, as having someone out for three months is viewed as a burden. A handful of colleagues have started/grown their family over the course of the past few years, yet very few returned from their maternity leave. Those who did return were separated very shortly after. Also, there is no short-term disability offered, so maternity leave is completely unpaid. - Annual pay increases seem to have become a thing of the past. Pre-2015, the company was great about giving everyone a decent increase year after year when annual reviews were completed. Annual pay increases stopped completely for some, if not most staff at least two years ago.