First Street Foundation Reviews

This is a place to avoid for anyone who cares about a healthy culture and fair compensation. There is a general lack of curiosity and compassion from leadership, which creates a toxic environment for most of those who aren't in lead positions. The CEO's way of speaking is domineering, ostentatious and complacent, often leaving no room for open dialogue and critique. Most work gets done in a rushed manner, due to leadership's impatience and lack of awareness. Subsequently, several coworkers burnt out and leadership completely failed to address these issues, even when pointed out. This denialism, conflict-aversion, and insensitivity is so rooted in the CEO's behavior that the chances are low that things will get better. In a survey conducted by an external expert, half of the employees answered that they couldn't truly be themselves at work. The irony is that leadership does not live up to the values they supposedly promote (fun, inclusivity, impact, integrity). On the contrary, the workplace's spirit is quite the opposite. As a result of these issues, the turnover rate is very high: in less than a year, 10 people left, out of a team of 30. The environmentalist mission also ends up being a masquerade for more capitalistic interests by partnering mostly with insurances and banks, which the CEO speaks so proudly talk about. On top of all of this, the compensation is MUCH lower than market rates, and the inequality of pay between leaders and employees is once again a testament of their sense of entitlement.

There is no better encapsulation of the issues rife within this company than the two 5-star "reviews" that upper management has left to try and discredit and bury the legitimate concerns of former and current employees. It's genuinely insulting to see these reviews glamorize working here and listing the only con as a nebulous "it's hard to combat climate change as a small company". The pay is below-average, the timelines are wildly unrealistic, your managers only advocate for you in private, and every year the company culture degrades as we try to reinvent ourselves for the new crop of employees. I'm currently interviewing at different companies because I've reached my wit's end at this place. It is nice to feel like I am contributing to something greater than myself, but I can't keep consistently having to force out a rough-draft that gets watered down and misshapen to fit what the product team deems to be profitable.