Mission-Driven Work, But Serious Leadership and Culture Issues - Social Worker The Stop Community Food Centre Employee Review

front line staff, volunteers, community members are amazing and wonderful to work and interact with

bad leadership that its worth leaving the organization for. The lack of respect, care, empathy, trust, understanding from leadership is astounding and their lack of self awareness is even more so. They truly dont care about your wellbeing and opinions and just want control. Often made working at The Stop very difficult and distressing. leadership are always laughing and smiling to your face but when things got tough and you needed support, or if you disagreed or pushed back, they are not there for you. The support they show is superficial is what i have learned the hard way. Instead they become aggressive, look down upon you, humiliate you, threaten you with discipline, and/or gaslight you. Treatment of their Indigenous team and program is also violent and colonial. Difficult to explain here the extreme level of harm caused by leadership and it's only understood if you go through it personally and/or witness it. the worst part is that a lot of the harm is subtle but deeply hurtful and affecting. you dont notice it until your morale and mental health decline and you wonder why.

Talented and caring front-line staff Meaningful programs

My time at The Stop was profoundly unpleasant. Like many nonprofits, it struggles with limited funding, staffing, and resources. But in my experience, those weren’t the core issues. The deeper problem is the foul culture and leadership. Several individuals on the leadership team are neither professionally nor psychologically fit to manage an organization and have created an environment of contempt and disparagement. I was belittled, micromanaged, and given little support to do my job effectively. I also watched enthusiastic, passionate colleagues be dismissed and silenced, which crushed morale and stifled initiative. This is especially disheartening because the programs and front-line teams do outstanding work and genuinely serve the community. Unfortunately, the leadership team consistently undermines those efforts. Think long and hard before joining this organization.