Pros
Working at BNI allowed me to make a positive influence in the lives of many young people and in at least one case, saved someone's life. I also had the opportunity to work with some fantastic colleagues and gained valuable experience.
Cons
I'm not sure whether the management at BNI is abjectly incompetent or insidiously malicious. I consistently advocated not only for myself as an employee but for other employees and of course our clients. Because of this, I was apparently targeted for removal. Our facility's management and the Administrative Sup from the main office presented every staff member at a special meeting with a Disciplinary Action form, but were told that it really wasn't, it was just a "policy review". Myself along with several others immediately questioned the veracity of this, as it seemed like some 1984 DoubleSpeak. In spite of continued assurances from these individuals that it was just a disciplinary action, I did not relent in questioning this, in spite of considerable grief from my supervisors, one who told me to just get over it. It turns out that I was entirely correct, a HR person who was fairly high up the food chain confirmed that this form would NEVER be used for anything other than a disciplinary action. After the fact I got a very disingenuous and begrudged apology from my supervisors but not, I noted, in front of HR. I also asserted that our clients, who suffered from rather severe mental health issues, all deserved to get the best level of care appropriate to their needs. As a result, one of the administrators came in and ranted about how I was discriminatory for saying so. Nevermind that they would assign clients to staff that had literally no training or experience in working with said population, in spite of telling same staff that they would not be working with those individuals particularly due to the lack of experience in that particular area. I don't see how this is discrimination. When the Mental Health Professional who was in charge of our therapy room resigned, it much longer than anticipated for management to find a replacement. During this time I acted as the Mental Health Professional, assuming all of their responsibilities and duties and performing quite capably as such, if the frequent compliments members of management gave to me are an indication. I maintained this position for several weeks with virtually no support, and with no additional compensation. When the next MHP had to leave suddenly for personal reasons, my clinical manager again asked me if I could take over as I had done well with it last time. I said that I would but that I would ask that she inquire about me getting paid at the MHP for the time period that I was actually performing in this capacity. She said that she felt this was entirely reasonable and fair to request and that she would do so. I asked her to try to find out soon. I had to go to my second job after work. As I had on many other occasions and always with supervisor approval, I took a laptop home to finish notes after my second job. The same supervisor approved this as she always did. Once I got to my second job I noticed a missed call from BNI. I had a message from Human Resources telling me not to come to work the next day. Puzzled, I contacted HR, who was very evasive, telling me that they didn't want to hear anything at all to me until they got the "official story". Even more befuddled, I contacted the supervisor I had talked to not half an hour earlier. She said that she couldn't talk to me about it and to talk to HR. Not knowing what was going on and more than a bit concerned, I went on with my night at work and when I came home, finished typing my notes in Word. When I went to then enter these notes in the system, I was locked out. I had not been told this would happen in spite of my supervisor knowing I intended to enter notes. I spent an hour after a 13 hour work day doing notes I couldn’t even enter. When I next spoke with HR, I was told to come in on a specific day to meet with HR and bring my badge and keys and laptop. I did so and told that I was terminated for failing to follow a previous corrective action plan. I wasn’t given an opportunity to say anything at all, and no further explanation was given. In less than half an hour, I went from being qualified to be a Mental Health Professional, per their request to be one, to being terminated for asking to be paid fairly. It is also important to mention that there is no guarantee that you will actually get paid if you work over your scheduled hours. Oh, and expect to get hurt. That is pretty routine and management couldn’t care less. I was punched in the face and got a concussion. When I started feeling badly due to the symptoms, I went to my supervisors and said that I should go to be examined for a concussion. They were initially dismissive, saying that I was probably just stressed out (this is when I was acting as a MHP without extra pay, by the way, and with this incident having occurred in front of one of my supervisors who did absolutely nothing about it). They then asked me to fill out a bunch of paperwork in spite of not being able to see or think clearly. They reluctantly agreed to let me fill it out after getting treated. The designated facility for work comp claims that I had to go to was Urgent Care, even though they did not have to means to even properly assess my condition and after an hour and a half wait just referred me to the emergency room where I waited a few more hours, in a neck brace, puking my guts out in the waiting area. Finally got back to see someone and then had to wait for imaging, get that done, get the results. It was not an enjoyable time. Although they were good enough to handle the medical bills, not one single person, supervisor, administrator, the safety committee, or HR, contacted me about this incident. Like I said, they couldn’t care less. Not to mention that this all happened while I was being over worked and underpaid with an absolute bare minimum of support. Do not trust any member of management at any level. They are far more concerned with keeping their salary and moving up the ladder while presenting a pretty face to the public than they are about actually providing a positive work environment or caring for the needs of the populations worked with. They will smile at you and woo you with words while simultaneously stabbing you in the back. If you try to stand up for yourself, clients, or coworkers, be prepared to be inundated in a hostile and uncaring work environment. They will tell you that if you are having issues that its ok, it’s a difficult field, ask for support, be proactive, etc etc. Yet when you do that it is held against you and you are called discriminatory or told to get over it. It is the most fake and malevolent workplace I have ever had the displeasure of working in, and it is not surprising that they are constantly hiring tons of people. They apparently can’t maintain employees. Perhaps this explains why. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Don’t inflict this upon yourself. To the best of my knowledge, none of the individuals herein discussed were reprimanded, disciplined, terminated, or otherwise corrected or punished in any way in spite of consistent incompetence and/or hostility. These are the only two things that accurately describe this companies' behavior. TL;DR: HARD Pass
