* Untrained management that is untrusting of its staff
* Heavy reliance on junior staff for outputs, leading to unhealthy expectations for output
* Overworked and highly stressed senior staff who, as a result, are often antagonistic towards feedback (senior leadership describes those who raise workplace and management issues as "ungrateful" and "complainers")
* Lack of transparency in and ownership of decision-making
* Redundancy in programs due to grant-focused (rather than goal-focused) development
* Confusion of brand with mission; "brand" receives highest priority in all visible decision-making, though it's unclear what the brand represents
* No theory of change at the organizational level (though some programs maintain their own)
* Practices "pay equity" in theory, but pay bands are too expansive to enforce any real equity and accountability, leaving staff at all levels of seniority with wildly different pay, especially women and people of color
* When staff quit or are laid off, there is usually no notice or explanation given to the rest of the organization. Even if they leave on good terms, an employee's departure will not be recognized unless their department chooses to acknowledge that departure
* Several Directors (including the CEO, Anne-Marie Slaughter) use emotionally manipulative tactics when dealing with staff of all levels, but particularly with women in leadership roles; these tactics include bullying, yelling, and emailing about work issues from non-work email addresses. Although HR will record these incidents, there are no accountability measures in place to deal with this leadership misconduct (i.e. no Board contacts for staff and no conflict resolution policies that apply to the most senior staff). Most targeted staff respond by leaving.
* Staff concerns about diversity are not taken seriously, resulting in...
1. an environment with routine practices of overlooking and miscrediting the work of staff of color and tokenizing these same staff in meetings and on panels. Rather than addressing staff's vocalized concerns about racial equity at the organization, in the summer of 2016, senior leadership chose instead to read our diversity numbers to us and told us to be grateful for the work they'd put in hiring us
2. a space that is ambiguously supportive of LGBTQ people, but is out of compliance with DC's state requirements for trans support in the workplace and doesn't consider LGBTQ+ experiences and demographics in the vast majority of its programmatic work
3. insensitivity to current events and staff reactions and needs (senior management once confused what happened at Pulse in Orlando with the Black Lives Matter movement)
4. a one-off incident in September and October 2016 where an art exhibit made primarily out of guns was installed in an unavoidable part of our work environment (there was even a gun pointed at you as you exited the elevator). Some of the pieces included racial slurs, suggestions of violence against children, child nudity, and bullet holes in the walls. Although some staff (but not all) were able to work from home during this time, that this exhibit was installed in our workplace without staff's full knowledge or consent, that it displaced and troubled staff and disrupted workflow, and that the exhibit was not removed immediately when staff expressed concern are all notable demonstrations of New America's culture and leadership
