Recommend: Weigh the Pros & Cons Before Starting Here - Anonymous employee Childcare Network Employee Review

>Benefits are not comparable to other companies for same positions (insurance is especially bad, very few days off, and no 401k first year). >Promises made to me during the interview process were not kept, i.e. great/family-like culture, some flexibility in hours to do personal errands (as long as meeting goals), ability to wear many hats and affect change, etc. (This might vary by department but with my management team there was min flexibility.) >I was told I was hired for my experience and skill set but none of my suggestions were implemented or received well, and I know of 2 other “new” staff members who had same experience (in different departments). >There is a complete lack of transparency and a “secret” mentality among leadership (that trickles down to staff not sharing their tasks and keeping things secret); the combo then makes it difficult to be successful in the smallest of tasks/projects as information is hoarded and employees live in fear. >Right now the goals are one word concepts not specific projects with clear definitions and charters towards which company is striving. >Mission statement and core values were recently created and emailed to the company, but they need to be more centric to the company’s day-to-day working life and gone over in company wide meetings (there are no company wide meetings or corporate office wide meetings). At other companies I worked, I often took these core values as trivial, but I now see they are critical to success too, as it gives a goal and beacon for leaders and employees. Hopefully this is changing at Childcare Network, but the current culture needs a lot of work to be at the standard of most other companies. >No individual goal setting or review process. This adds another level of ambiguity that allows leadership to not have concrete agreements with staff about expectations. >Administrative and small tasks take presidence over bigger projects that could accomplish more in the long run. >Employees within same departments work in silos and no one knows end-to-end processes, which the company is trying to change, but the lack of leadership, fear of employees, etc makes this a tremendous feat! >Access to everyday applications and features isn’t often given so people are not allowed to perform tasks that have been assigned to them. Makes it tough to be successful in ones role. >Instead of looking forward staff and leadership seem to look backward and/or be stuck in how things work today. >For one to be successful at this company he/she would need to spend majority of their time “managing up” but that leaves little time to do your actual job and hit your deadlines. In summary: I have worked for start ups in Austin. I am used to fast pace environments. Childcare Network wears you down not because of a fast paced or heavy work load but a toxic work environment that results in nothing getting accomplished. The new executive leader (mentioned in pros section of this review) started by wanting to talk to all staff and get feedback. Those conversations never occurred (that I know of). So I am not sure if the needed culture change will occur or not. With so many options out there on where to work, until changes are made at the exec level then I foresee that CNI is going to continue to have staffing issues with experienced employees. I have experienced that if people enjoy their job then subpar benefits can be overlooked - people will happily contribute to help effect change because they believe in something bigger than themselves and/or they are being successful in something that can be shared on a resume down the road. However, neither an intangible feel good or boastful wins for resume happen at CNI, so the subpar benefits are stacked on top of a not good company culture with roadblocks stopping progress from occurring.