During my time, the CEO called this organization a "nonprofit startup" and, as such, insisted that employees work "as many hours as needed to get it done" (10+ was typical for me), provide their own laptops and monitors, and work at unscheduled times with less than 24 hour advance notice. This is an interesting expectation given that a nonprofit "startup" will not reward employees with equity. Workload was unpredictable and almost impossible to manage and plan for because the CEO maintained autocratic decision-making and frequently changed scope of programming under development. HR was and still seems to be the CEO's mother. The CEO hired a close friend to serve as a Chief of Staff and perform HR duties, including performing employee evaluations. Leadership would frequently tell employees to work harder, faster, and more efficient, without listening to staff about pain points or providing any actionable paths forward. A mess to be avoided.
