employment consultant

program manager

regional director

works manager

director

Best Buddies International

I've been with Best Buddies for 10.5 years and I've stayed with the organization for a reason - we're mission driven and I get to work with awesome people. I've been offered many opportunities to advance within the organization. Throughout my time, I've seen very rapid growth which has resulted in some growing pains. Depending on where you're located in the organization, you may have a different experience. In Texas in particular, the team is supportive, focused, hard working, and caring. We have a great leader in our state director and strong support from our regional directors which has allowed Texas to add 3 staff and promote another, all during the worst pandemic our country has seen. That's saying a lot.

Of course there are ways that Best Buddies can improve, but that's been true of all of the organizations I've worked for over my career. Yes, we need to work hard and sometimes my workload is heavy, but my team is there to help me when I need it. Some times there are decisions made in which I am not fully supportive, but in those cases, I feel comfortable going to my immediate supervisor or others within leadership to share my concerns. My feedback sometimes results in changes, and some times I learn about the reasons those decisions were made in which I wasn't fully aware. And some times, I just need to accept that this is the way it is.

At the end of the day, everyone shows up and does their best because we want to transform the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I've never been happier in my job and I feel very fortunate to do this work. 

I worked at this organization for a few years and absolutely fell in love with the mission.  It is truly impacting the lives of both people with and without disabilities.  Unfortunately, the infrastracture at the company headquarters in Miami is completely dysfunctional and counterproductive to serving the mission.  There are National events that are tied to the Founder and CEO that are in direct competition with the state and local events, which makes it extremely hard to be successful as a State Director responsible for generating income.  There are two distinct staffs; one of which works soley and exclusively on the National events, many of whom are also supposed to provide support to the states.  This happens only when their time isn't being spend supporting the National events, and that support is mostly grudgingly given.  All of the state staff feel like second class citizens and it is a constant source of frustration and the reason BB has such an extremely high turnover.  The organization needs a COO to come in with outside experience to help restructure the org so that it will function more smoothly and run more successfully, instead of the many, many "yes men" that currently exist kowtowing to the CEO.  It is a shame, because the mission is truly important and the constituency is very underserved, but until they get their act together they will continue to lose good people who get frustrated with the idiocy and the disparity between the state staff and events, and the HQ staff and their events.

Upper management staff is totally incompetent. Most were promoted because of their friendships. Some have no experience in the field they are promoted to oversee. It's more like a sorority than leadership. Corporate meetings are a joke because the sorority acts like they are back in college. Hard to respect someone as leadership when they can't stand.  They are never held accountable and staff never sees them outside of corporate meetings. Work life balance is absolute zero. Vacation is given as part of the benefit package but actually being allowed to take it is completely out of the question. Support staff salaries are so low that its a constant revolving door. Best Buddies is used to gain a little experience after college then move on to a better job. When you have openings the rest of the staff is just given more and more work which causes them to leave because of being overworked. Local directors are always running around like mad trying to keep all the pieces in order with ZERO help from national staff.
The mission and the people it supports are the absolute best part of Best Buddies. The donors love and support this organization but have no clue of the dysfunctionality behind the curtain.   
I know my review is harsh but true. I was not terminated. I resigned free from duress and now work for another organization with a similar mission.

The mission of Best Buddies International is great and the overall desire to help individuals with disabilities is a worthy cause; however, the company is difficult to work for.   I worked for this company in the state of Utah for many years and saw the upper management mistreat and disrespect staff time and again.  I agree with previous comments that state you are at the mercy of your state/regional director, and when you voice concerns to the headquarter office they fall on deaf ears.  There is little value placed on employees, you are required to be available 24/7 with little notice (if any) when they expect you to work nights and weekends, and you are compensated poorly. Do not work here if you have a family or any other outside obligations; you will be expected to surrender all other responsibilities.  Furthermore, my State Director was unprofessional, immature, dishonest, and unfair to work for.  The Human Resource department knew about this problem and failed to do anything. Unfortunately, my situation was not unique.  I saw this happen in other states as well and the headquarter office's solution was to look the other way.  While there have been some who work here (mostly a short time) and have a positive experience, the large majority of past employees leave here with a bad taste in their mouth.  I recommend not taking the chance, don't work for Best Buddies International....especially in the state of Utah.   

TLDR: Colorado state leadership made working here miserable, but the mission is wonderful and the benefits offered are great. 

There were some good aspects of working at Best Buddies, but the bad outweighed the good. The pros of working for best buddies international are: good benefits, two weeks off at the end of the year that is paid, training opportunities, and the unforgettable experiences that you get when interacting with the participants.

 The cons: Some days I was expected to work 12 to 18 hours without flex time or without increased pay. There was a culture in the local Colorado State office that was hostile and emotionally unsafe. The state director bullied myself and others on several occasions with gossip. The director would get drunk and high during business dinners, putting myself in uncomfortable situations. The director expected me to work on approved days off, even harassing me with dozens of text messages. The state director would give me the silent treatment for days to weeks at a time if I did not participate in gossip. The state director would spend the entirety of our work meetings talking about her personal life and I felt like her therapist.
 
 I really wanted to love it here, the mission is so great, the participants are so lovely, but the workplace and the culture was very, very toxic.

This is my first review I have written on Indeed and I really felt it was necessary.

The mission of Best Buddies is great and I strongly believe in it. With that being said, the management in the Best Buddies headquarter office is terrible. They will claim that they care about all their employees and support the state offices- sadly this is not the case. 

I was truly excited when I took the position of program manager. I thought I would love the organization and believed that there would be room to grow. However, the only room to grow in this organization is if you move to FL and work for the headquarter office... and even that is not likely. 

No matter what state you live in- I would strongly recommend against applying to work for this organization. You will be inundated with reports, conference calls, and unnecessary requests that take away from the true mission!

What is the best part of working at the company?
Honestly the best part was working with the population of IDD participants. And the flexibility of working from home. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Supervisor are green and don’t know how to treat or talk to their employees. It’s a revolving door that no one knows what to do and it’s a shame because the mission statement is amazing but behind the scenes, it’s a total mess. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Mission statement is amazing but behind the scenes they can do better. Better pay and better opportunities for people 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Typical day was either job coaching participants at their internships or visiting them at their work sites to make sure everything is ok. Also going to events to promote Best Buddies.

The work was unbelievably brutal and exhausting. Employees were expected to carry crushing workloads while pretending everything was fine. The compensation was nowhere near what the demands required. It fell far below expectations and desperately needed improvement. The behavior of leadership was another major problem. These deeply unfair people handed out promotions based on favoritism and personal opinions instead of skill or capability. Such poor decisions created resentment and hostility among employees. All of this caused immense stress and pushed me to leave much sooner than I had planned. I needed time away, so I took a few days to recover from the damage this experience caused before moving on to another opportunity.

Management does not know how to properly incentivize employees, and employees are spoken to poorly and treated like garbage. The turnover rate is ridiculously high, because it is a place that promises a lot and does not deliver. For a place that is suppose to promote inclusion it is one of the most isolating and clique-based organizations. You will constantly catch people talking behind one another's back, to the point where you cannot trust anyone. Marketing/Comm is one of the worst departments, the leadership is unhinged, quick to anger, and nasty. You will get screamed at if you're there long enough. It is not a place that is good for your mental health or work-life balance. You will also not be financially compensated for over-time, like in most decent companies. And the overtime is mandatory, as well as volunteering for the events for many people.

Disorganized toxic culture which starts at the top. National offices are so disconnected with state operations and it is apparent in the consistent lack of support. Decision making is fear based. VP’s cower to every whim of the CEO who often prioritizes silly campaigns that make no fiscal sense. Pay is inadequate. HR department does not have enough staff to meet the needs of employees. Finance is antiquated and led by fear. There is absolutely no strategic plan in place. No road map for the org overall or at least not one that is communicated. Aside from generous employee time off and a great mission, this place is a dumpster fire. Completely mismanaged!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Employment consultant 29 salaries reported	$43,759 per year
Program manager 19 salaries reported	$44,316 per year
Regional director 5 salaries reported	$69,500 per year
Works manager 6 salaries reported	$48,000 per year
Director 6 salaries reported	$101,667 per year

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