Be Perfect or Be a favorite quickly.... Or You Will Be Fired! - Anonymous Association Headquarters Employee Review

Thank you for taking the time to write this review. I am truly sorry that your experience with AH did not match our intention to be a best place to work. We are committed to creating a comfortable, transparent and collaborative environment for all employees, so I am disappointed to hear some of your feedback. I wish the very best for all of our staff - past, present, and future. I wish the very best for you as well. Your post on Glassdoor is anonymous, yet I am confident you and I met through our recruiting process, orientation, and other business interaction. I apologize that something may have gotten lost in our communications since if you truly knew me, I do not believe you would feel as you do. I would like to address each of your comments, yet there is a limit to the length allowed for my reply on Glassdoor. Here is as much as will fit… Training – I am sorry you felt that adequate training was not provided. AH provides over 5,000 hours of training on an annual basis for our staff (both internally, as well as using external resources). When hiring we do confirm with the applicant that they have the necessary skills to perform the job, and we do have a built in system of ongoing training within each dept. Some of the training does need to be self-motivated – example: in our accounting dept. we have purchased an extensive set of reference books for everyone in the dept. to access. In addition, we have a built in feedback process whereby a supervisor meets with new staff at 45 and 90 days after hire in order to share two-way feedback, which is documented and placed in the employees file. We understand it is difficult to receive feedback that is less than stellar, yet that feedback enables a staff member to achieve greater success than they would have without feedback. The positive reviews on Glass Door seem accurate with what most of our staff believe about our company. Some of the negative reviews seem to contain anger toward the company in line with someone who did not perform to an acceptable level for their position and a difficult decision was made to terminate employment. I agree with you that our staff has the opportunity to learn a lot in a short period of time and that there are numerous other co-workers to lean on for assistance. Also, our company produces some of the most well respected professionals in the association management field. We are very proud that we have many long term employees who have contributed to the growth and success of the company Most continue their careers with AH (with increased pay and great opportunities) and are part of the future of our company. Others move on to new opportunities and are thankful for the great experience they gained during their time at AH. I wish great success for all. Our salaries and benefits are competitive - we bench mark these on a continual basis. Annual increases are for merit and not everyone experiences the same increases in salary. Furthermore, even though many of our employees are salaried and exempt from the requirement to be paid overtime, we do provide additional days off to allow staff to get some “down time.” I agree that the careers we offer are challenging, yet all of our employees only work between 40 and 50 hours per week on average. Appreciation – I have heard quite the opposite about our company with regard to appreciation for contributions. Management and peers alike provide feedback on a regular basis (in reviewing several of the other Glass Door posts this point is called out). We live by our core values of Respect, Expertise, Accountability, Innovation and Flexibility. As you know, these are used in our hiring process, our ongoing feedback process, and in some cases, the decision to terminate someone who isn’t living those values. Thank you again for your feedback. It helps us make AH a better place to work. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Robert Waller, Jr., CAE President & CEO