Pros
What kept me going was that the consumers all wanted to be there and wanted to work with me. I loved my co-workers who were all helpful and supportive. Other departments, however have the reputation of trying to sabotage their staff.
Cons
The overwhelming sense in the corridors of BNI is one of paranoia, staff and even supervisors always looking over their shoulders to see what the administrators are doing. I have never seen an organization where HR is so generally hated and feared by nearly everyone. Consequently, if HR decides to hurt a staff person, and therefore a department, supervisors and other staff are too fearful to intervene or show loyalty and support. HR seems to have developed a "3 months and you're out policy" terminating you because "though your work is excellent, you don't quite fit." This happens after probation is satisfactorily over but before your staff review where you become full staff. You can be suspended pending an investigation on some charge of abuse or rule infraction, or even for an issue on the outside which has nothing to do with BNI at all; and when exonerated terminated anyway with no recourse because PA is an "at will state." Staff on my level are overworked and underpaid. The diversity statement in the hand book is a joke. They will respect aspects of other cultures and religions as long as it is BNI policy to do so. They do discriminate against minorities, but their defense is that they discriminate against other minorities in the same way, and therefore it is general policy and not discrimination. If the BNI administration treated the consumers the way that they treat at least some of their staff, they would be up on abuse charges. I kept hearing, over and over again "If Gertrude Barber were alive today, she would not allow the administration to conduct business this way!" I was let go over the objections of both consumers and staff, though they felt powerless to do anything about it.