Vantaggi
The only good thing I can say about working at LIAAC is that at the time the salaries paid to employees were higher than most other not for profit agencies in the area.
Svantaggi
While the pay may have been above average, it was almost impossible to get approval for any time off. I was hired with three weeks vacation time annually, however every time I tried to get approval to take time off, I was turned down. Finally after being with the agency for almost a year, I was granted one week off. When I spoke to my supervisor about this, his response was that he donates several weeks a year of his time off back to the agency. Of course his salary was more than double that of mine, and he got twice as much vacation time. The atmosphere at the agency was one of intimidation, and you didn't dare question or contradict anything, including upper management, who basically were all the best friends of the Executive Director. I was once soundly chastised for daring to ask the director of another area an innocent question about a picture frame that a client's mother had asked about. As I mentioned, all of the upper management were hand picked best friends of the executive director, and if one of them had a friend who wanted a job, they were brought on board at the expense of demoting or dismissing an existing employee. The director of my area was the only one in the agency who didn't use a computer for anything, and he literally went through secretaries at the rate of one every month or two. The turnover rate at this place incredible, but benefits the executive director and her chosen circle. That's because any money that was put into a retirement fund that was paid by the agency would be distributed among the employees that remained after one was let go. Time and time again I would see someone let go for no apparent reason, and they would hire someone else to fill that job and have to train them all over again. Staff were also constantly "under the gun" to work on fundraising, whether this was their department or not. I could be here all night writing this, but suffice to say that pretty much all the allegations in the Newsday article that appeared in the mid 90's are true. The agency is run for the benefit of the executive director and her chosen inner circle. Not surprising that several former employees have brought lawsuits against this agency. Someone needs to put this agency under a microscope and do a complete evaluation of their finances.