Pros
An organization with a storied history, legacy, and great potential for a promising future.
Cons
The Cons... Okay, this is just going to sound like the complaints of a bitter old employee, but I wouldn't be spending my time to do this if I didn't have some hope that it might help garner some positive change. So, for the betterment of the Institute, and with the desire to make our work environment better, I present to you this litany of Cons: (For clarity here, please note that when I say senior staff, I am talking about the real senior staff, the C-Level people, the head-honchos, the big bosses. In many cases this is not even people who are director level!) The general staff are treated poorly, are both mismanaged and micromanaged by the higher-ups, not given information in a timely manner in order to do their jobs, expected to catch up as soon as decisions are suddenly made, expected to periodically work extra hours to then catch up without any appreciation or overtime pay, are denied promotions with the constant excuse of there not being the money (even if a title is the main request), having no HR department that cares/has cared to listen to staff, many positions left open and unfilled as people leave (often because they feel it has been a toxic work environment) which results in current staff having to take on more responsibility and tasks with no extra pay, very poor communication between C-level staff and the rest of AFI about critical decision making and future plans, generally low morale, new employees with big and new ideas are quickly beaten down to the point of getting to the hopeless level that the rest of us are feeling (I’ve seen this so many times), senior level staff claim to want employees to take charge and do their jobs but then are scolded for not checking in with them first, senior staff also claim to have open door policies which are a joke and there only in writing, staff are questioned frequently about whether or not they are doing enough, and maybe the saddest thing on this list is that sometimes (whether intentional or not) C-level staff end up pinning staff against each other thus creating unnecessary friction between generally amiable colleagues. Sometimes we are subtly reminded (and sometimes it is not so subtle) that we should feel lucky to have jobs right now since the economy and pandemic, blah blah blah, etc. which is manipulative and obnoxious. Am I happy I have a job? Of course! But should I act like you are doing me a favor here and that I am not contributing to the institution? Absolutely not. The majority of my colleagues and I have vast amounts of experience, have had jobs at so many places and learned unique lessons and tools at them which we bring to the table, so stop treating us like we are so easily replaceable. As you will notice by the revolving door of people leaving AFI, it isn't so easy to replace people with what is needed. Recently some really amazing people have left, and that is very unfortunate. (I should add that fortunately a few horrible people left too, so you win some you lose some?). Another big issue is that is seems to be more important for AFI to put good spin on everything when something is going wrong, and sweep as much under the rug as possible as issues arise, rather than taking responsibility for them and letting all of us know that AFI is even aware of these larger issues and that AFI is trying to fix them. Instead of that, many C-level staff seem like they are in a whirlwind of chaos of their own creation and are just constantly trying to make sure no one sees anything get knocked over. This leaves many actual achievements discolored by the ugly process it took to get there. It sad to be excited and proud of something and also feel traumatized from the journey. I'm sure I am forgetting some items, but this is a decent start. P.S. I chose a day that wasn’t so crazy to draft this so as to prevent being aggressive, per the community guidelines. This is a reigned in review.
