ABA ROLI Reviews

Hard to learn more, lack of professional development

The organization is a sinking ship, and unfortunately most people in the position to do anything about it are either in denial or are part of the problem. There is very high turnover across the organization, especially in junior staff positions, the HR department, and the Finance department. Senior managers claim to want to promote people from within and develop our own people, but it is very difficult to move into management positions from within. Junior staff are talked over, ignored, and disrespected in meetings and most decision making. The culture is very hierarchical and department directors don't respond to emails from non-director staff in other departments. This results in very basic, simple decisions taking days or weeks to move forward because information has to be passed and approved by so many people. ABA ROLI stretches its budgets too thin, so people are perpetually overburdened. Most departments and programs would need twice the number of staff they currently have for the work load, which is part of what fuels the high turnover. Going above and beyond to do the job anyway isn't recognized at all. If you make a mistake because you are exhausted and dealing with an impossible work load, it will be blown way out of proportion and you will be made to feel as though you've committed the worst offense on the planet. This environment of shaming and blaming focuses instead on the individual who made an oversight rather than looking more holistically at the underlying challenges staff (again, especially junior staff) are facing. Most of the executive management team for the Center for Global Programs (under which ABA ROLI falls) have no clue how to manage people, so they just set up useless internal protocols that serve no purpose and are a drain on your already limited time, lecture you and threaten jobs in group settings (rather than providing tangible and individualized feedback), and make hiring and staffing decisions based on favoritism and who has sucked up to them rather than looking for the right skills and experience for a given role. I have really strived to establish a different work culture within my team, but we are still impacted almost daily by the larger backdrop and dysfunction coming from the highest levels. If the work environment and culture issues aren't enough to dissuade you, the financial stability of the organization should. A couple of departments have just experienced recent layoffs due to financial issues (which included the move to "temporarily" merge Africa and MENA under one director), and many of us worry more are coming. My entire team is looking for other jobs right now to escape, and several are considering walking away even without new jobs because things are so dysfunctional.