Writing this in hopes to save another employee (likely a BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ individual) from the unprofessionalism - Advanced Practice Provider (NP/PA) Roots Community Birth Center Employee Review

Summary: The leadership knows exactly what to say to recruit some excellent talent especially in the LGBTQIA and BIPOC communities. Although these individuals may feel relatable, they are not in the long term. I would not recommend my least favorite social contact to work here or receive care here. If you are able to fly under the radar in a staff of less than 12 people, have no opinion, ask no questions, and feel comfortable in completely disorganized disarray, then you could potentially last longer here than the many, many former staff members in the proverbial Roots former staff closet. To boot, Roots does not have a single individual who has education in business management or Human Resources, so when trouble strikes, as it does anywhere, it is true and utter chaos with no one knowing what to do. Just check out their social media, it does not take advanced math skills to realize how many talented individuals have left this establishment, and here is my experience below. To mirror the fellow Indeed review, this business has enough of a positive community reputation and a buzzword-drenched elevator speech to attract some fabulous talent, particularly in the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ community. However, you can be rest assured that all of these blissful highlights and promises cease to exist the moment you are hired. In my experience at Roots as a provider, I waited upon full credentialing for things to finally improve despite a multitude of red flags. I truly enjoyed every single staff member I worked with, but 2 of the 3 leadership members who are in office no more than 1-2 days per week absolutely made it all a miserable experience. My credentialing took 4+ different employees to complete because no involved & present staff member was fully trained to know how to complete the credentialing process and despite my request on multiple occasions, they don’t “have enough money to hire a credentialing company”. I was offered a written contract which was to be signed after my credentialing was completed, so their negligence in completing my credentialing in a timely manner ultimately was costing me my earning potential. The leadership team then proceeded to back out of the initial contract they verbally offered me once my credentialing was complete. They instead offered me a contract with, as mentioned in the review above, an obscene amount of tasks I was never communicated to prior to needing to do, such as soliciting my own clients. The leadership team then proceeded to gaslight me on multiple occasions, but the most obvious offenses being that “all providers in all small businesses are expected to solicit their own clients”. Any provider working for someone else knows this is not true. I would happily solicit clients for my own practice, but certainly not for someone else’s. I was also told that my collaborative agreement, which is required by my licensing board, was a “Social favor” by the owner because she knew the individual outside of strictly professional ties, and therefore, I was to find my own. The former collaborative provider was absolutely lovely and had very candid conversations with me to leave this practice, as this individual had worked with Roots since 2019-2020 until 2022 (when they left abruptly—a theme at Roots) and “not a single thing has changed for the better”. Above I have mentioned very provider specific concerns, but I will also mention a few red flags along the way that when I mentioned concern, I was always told “this is a part of being in a small business” and completely dismissed: 1. My collaborative provider was not paid for multiple pay periods, and then eventually paid via Venmo. 2. Roots frequently changes companies for payroll and “HR” (See more below) and therefore there are multiple occasions which we had paper checks with little to no advanced warning. For those of us living paycheck to paycheck, waiting for USPS to deliver our paycheck is absolutely unforgivable. 3. Their “HR” consists of a contract company that essentially helps with onboarding, but deals with no concerns regarding actual Human Resources conflict management, which is where a lot of former Roots staff have been cornered into essentially leaving because the owner decides there is only one correct answer. 4. This business is FOR PROFIT as of 2022-2023. Do your research! Why are you for-profit but claiming to “fight the patriarchy” and “fight traditional medicine” when you are just another one of the system? Do your research before applying at Roots! 5. There are multiple promises never delivered upon. These include but are not limited to: pay increases to match market value, increased work load, etc; retirement benefits; constant reminders at staff meetings to put family and self first, but then given a cold shoulder if taking a sick time (allotted by City of Minneapolis ordinance); general meetings that desperately need to occur and get rescheduled upwards of 7+ times before eventually your efforts of rescheduling no longer occur; etc. In summary, I absolutely love the clients at Roots. Their clients are equally as wonderful as the talented BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ folks they bring in as staff, and eventually leave. I learned invaluable skills regarding patient care but only due to my own work and the genuine help of the clinical director in 2022. I have never had such an unprofessional and psychologically unhealthy environment than I have toward the last half of my employment at Roots, and I certainly hope I can keep someone else in the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ community from experiencing this.