Pros
It can feel good to be part of an organization that is helping people in need in the community. Hopelink really does that through the many types of services it provides to people in need, from food to shelter to transportation to tutoring and life skills. Many Hopelink employees are committed to the organization's mission of serving people, and do their best to accomplish it. In some groups, there can be a good sense of teamwork, though things vary greatly from group to group and department to department.
Cons
The organization turns away many people in need because it simply does not have the resources to serve them. This problem is especially serious when times are bad economically. Then, there are fewer donations and yet there are more people who need to help. Even though the organization does help many people get by and helps a small number of people turn their lives around, Hopelink simply cannot make a significant dent in the problems of homelessness and poverty in the area where it operates. It often seems like a band aid, and this can be demoralizing. Hopelink is generally reluctant to get involved in issues in the community that can be controversial, such as tent cities of homeless people. However, when homelessness is so prevalent and the major social services organization in the area is afraid to talk about it, it loses much of its relevance. There are few opportunities for advancement for most employees. It is pretty hierarchical and there usually isn't a chance to develop one's career and move up. HR is pretty useless in terms of training or help with career development -- they offer occasional touchy feely programs, but nothing helpful. HR can also be petty. I saw one back-office employee (a very hard-working and respected woman who happened to be a single mother) punished for a hair color that HR found unacceptable. It seemed the height of hypocrisy that she should have to worry about providing for her children because Hopelink's HR department didn't like her appearance, especially since she didn't have contact with the public. Pay at most jobs at Hopelink is poor. In fact, many employees earn so little that they would be eligible for many of the organization's services. Only directors seemed to be paid adequately. Health insurance is not very affordable for many Hopelink employees, particularly for their family members. For low-paid employees, the lack of subsidy for insurance premiums for family members can make them almost as vulnerable as some of the people the organization is meant to serve. Communication and coordination across departments is generally inadequate. Transportation, for example, views itself as almost a separate organization and is not all that well integrated into the rest of Hopelink. There is little innovation and many people seem to feel that the safest way to work is to keep doing things the way that they have always been done. There seems to be a concern that upper management will punish people who try to innovate, even if the old way is not working well. There is high turnover in many non-managerial positions. Dissatisfaction with compensation and other issues mentioned above surely contribute to this, but management doesn't seem to take these seriously.