This organization says that they foster a bottom-up culture that empowers the employee. In fact, the organization prides itself on this supposed empowerment culture. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ever since the Stand Together rebranded in 2020, several employees I know personally, including myself, have been verbally abused and fired, usually for no legitimate reason. In my own experience, I was placed under a new manager who was unreasonable, unforgiving, and disrespectful. No matter how well I would perform on my assignments (several of which were high-profile successes) he would find things to criticize, saying things like "I know if I asked anyone else to do this, they would have done it right." One of my colleagues left our team and later told me he hated working for this individual. Another is still working for him and says that his conduct has only gotten worse. Although several of this manager's subordinates have expressed to his superiors dissatisfaction about his conduct, nothing has been done about it.
The truth is that this organization is the exact opposite of what it claims to be. Instead of being one of employee empowerment, it's actually one where their input is ignored. It's also the kind of place where mid-level managers get promoted while berating and making miserable their subordinates who are actually doing the real work.
When things got worse with my manager, I still tried to be constructive and communicate why I felt he was out of line. Although he initially apologized and promised to improve, this effort was short-lived.
Gretchen Reiter is the VP over the entire Comms team. She is a nice lady who routinely sends encouraging emails to the team that are highly informal and fun, discussing topics like favorite movies. Apparently this type of informality is a privilege not accorded to anyone else. When one of my coworkers CCd our manager on an email to someone of comparable rank at the organization he knew well, our manager lectured him for writing "lemme know if you have any questions" instead of "LET ME know if you have any questions." This is the type of email policing you can look forward to from mid-level management if you work at Stand Together.
When my manager fired me, he worded it euphamistically as if I would be placed on another team. I soon found out the truth. When I tried to provide my input on my manager's conduct, it was made clear to me that no one would listen. Then, I was asked how I would like to inform my coworkers that I was leaving (whether through a conference call or by email). I chose the former, but my manager's manager then asked me WHAT I would say to them, to ensure "we are on the same page." In other words, she and her team wanted to APPROVE what I would say to my own coworkers, as if I might express any sentiments that would reflect poorly on them. This type of narrative control, even for something as mundane as saying goodbye, is indicative of the hypocrisy of this supposed "employee-empowerment" culture.
I have kept in touch with several coworkers from different parts of the organization and the story is the same. "Did you hear about so-and-so? They were let go for no apparent reason." Or "Yes, she still works there, and she's miserable."
Stand Together's responses to these posts usually recommend that reviewers discuss their issues with HR. I can assure you that the people I know at Stand Together do not trust their own HR department, nor is HR (or anyone on the management team) responsive to their concerns.
Lastly, I recently chatted with the individual who recruited me to work at Stand Together. A few months after I was hired, she left the organization. She told me that she could no longer, in good conscience, tell people that Stand Together was a good place to work.
