Echoing everyone else - Anonymous employee SEO Employee Review

2.0
Nov 22, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some really great peers that you’ll love, as most people said the students are incredible, you’ll learn a lot

Cons

You’ll learn a lot by being thrown into the fire and constantly having to navigate ancient office politics. There are a handful of great managers but the majority of upper management take advantage of staff and make you work all the time without recognition. The feeling across all departments is that staff are overworked, under paid, and that nothing changes despite overwhelming outcry (see all the recent reviews). Most staff do not talk to HR because they are terrified of retribution (something managers hint at) and many of us can’t use our past supervisors as a reference for the same reason. Turnover is high and the organization doesn’t acknowledge it.

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SEO Response
7y
Thank you for your feedback about your experience with SEO. Thank you for your positive feedback regarding our incredible dedicated staff and our inspirational students. We value our employees and recently conducted a staff survey to help us understand specific ways that SEO can improve. The survey results were shared with SEO’s board and a major budget increase was approved to invest in training and in hiring more team members to reduce excessive workloads where they exist. SEO’s recent rapid growth has caused some internal challenges and we’ve held several all-team meetings to communicate new policies/procedures and increase transparency. We’ve also conducted focus groups to monitor our effectiveness to ensure everyone who works at SEO feels empowered to perform at their highest level as well as work in a collaborative environment with supportive managers.

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5.0
Apr 7, 2026
Anonymous contractor
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

meaningful work, thoughtful teams, clear systems

Cons

not a lot of long term scheduling predictability

3.0
Jun 24, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

SEO’s mission is meaningful, and the work can feel purpose-driven, especially if you care about education, access, and supporting students from historically excluded communities. There are people across the organization who genuinely care about the students and programs. I appreciated the opportunity to contribute creative ideas, marketing strategy, and communications work in support of a larger mission.

Cons

My experience was ultimately disappointing because the internal culture did not always reflect the care and intentionality of the external mission. Communication was often unclear, priorities shifted quickly, and decision-making sometimes felt inconsistent or disconnected from the day-to-day work being asked of staff. There was also frequent leadership turnover within the same year, which created instability and made it difficult to feel grounded in the direction of the organization. At times, onboarding, manager support, and internal processes felt underdeveloped for the pace and expectations of the work. I also experienced a moment at a work-related event where my manager asked about my sexuality, which felt inappropriate and uncomfortable. That experience contributed to my feeling that stronger management training and clearer professional boundaries are needed.

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