Great place, terrible management - Educator National Aviary Employee Review

The National Aviary has grown considerably, both in its reach, accomplishments and abilities, as well as in its culture. In the years I worked there, I experienced opportunities for promotions, changes in processes/efficiencies, intentionality around employee engagement, and improvements to the employee benefits. It is an organization that values and rewards hard work in a way I have not experienced elsewhere. Plus, the birds are well-cared for and the team's dedication to the mission is impressive.

This is an ambitious organization, and the people are passionate. At times, this can create stress and elevated emotions, which can be a challenge. Overall, worth it!

The birds and other animals are amazing. It's incredible to be able to work so closely with so many different species-- most of the hourly staff are really passionate about their work and care deeply.

There is an environment of secrecy which makes relations between departments complicated and at times neglects communication for the purposes of "looking good". There is an air of unchecked entitlement in most salaried (i.e. higher paid) workers that leads to a great amount of frustration and unnecessary consequences for hourly workers and sometimes animals. Those who are passionate about this work are not paid enough to sustain themselves or to put up with the toxic environment. For a nonprofit who prides itself on institutional knowledge and staff wellness, there sure seems to be a revolving door of hourly employees. Also, as a supposedly progressive and diversity-focused facility, there are recurrences of ableist practices and misgendering of employees (probably more that I don't see) with no consequences-- contacting HR is fruitless in most capacities. There is very little room for career growth, with the only promotions I know of being managers being further promoted-- hourly employees are asked to do more work and put more time in for tasks with no reward. Any open job positions are the remnants of someone's dream job that they were strongarmed out of, not new opportunities.