SEO reviews

4.0

66% would recommend to a friend

(207 total reviews)

William A. Good­loe

77% approve of CEO

55% positive business outlook

SEO has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 207 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The SEO employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

207 reviews
1.0
Nov 17, 2018

Do not overlook all the Glassdoor warnings

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Scholars Some amazing staff memebers Free bagels on fridays

Cons

The retention rate alone should warn you not to take a position at this organization. In every single department you have someone leaving what seems like every week. When I was interviewing for the position I asked about the Glassdoor reviews to which they answered “many people just feel wronged and want to rant”. I tried to take it with a grain of salt. Horrible choice as I quickly noticed why so many people were “ranting” or what I like to call “speaking the truth”. An all staff survey was distributed because of the Glassdoor reviews. The top 10 issues with negative staff feedback were centered on management. When you have a whole office, including her own team, talking behind a managers back you know something must not be right. The incompetence of someone and the amount of people they have ruined the reputations of for no joy but their own should prove how unfit they are for a role but that has been overlooked numerous times by an even higher incompetent staff. Though I was very passionate about the mission of SEO and the scholars that came with it, crying and having anxiety attacks every week were just not worth it. Currently working under new management at a better organization has shown me what a real manager should act like. I am overjoyed to not be in such a toxic work environment any longer.

avatar
SEO Response
7y
Thank you for taking the time to write a review and for your passion for our mission of creating a more equitable society by closing the academic and career opportunity gap for motivated young people from underserved and/or underrepresented communities. SEO is growing at a fast rate and with growth comes growing pains. There is no denying that SEO has experienced some challenges recently. As you mentioned in your review, we did conduct a team-wide survey to learn about concerns of our staff and we are addressing staff concerns head-on. We are committed to providing a positive and supportive work experience for ALL employees. We are enhancing our best-practices in areas of increased manager training, leadership coaching, and professional development. If you ever would like to connect offline and discuss your experience further, please contact Maria Fornario at 646-230-0253 or email at mfornario@seo-usa.org. Thank you.
2.0
Feb 4, 2018

Company Mission Jeopardized by Abysmal Management

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

At its base level, the mission of SEO is undeniably important. The students you are working on behalf of are phenomenal inspirations.

Cons

The other reviews from full-time staff are correct: this place is rotting from the neck down. Management is more interested in covering for themselves than actually affecting changes that would better serve program participants. Employees are over-worked, under-appreciated, and ignored. The solution for any problem seems to be just throwing more work-hours at it, rather than any sort of critical thinking. Talented employees that don't toe the sycophantic line are either shown the door or pushed out.

avatar
SEO Response
7y
Thank you for taking the time to write a review. We agree with you that our mission and work at SEO is imperative to the overall betterment of society. We recently conducted a team-wide survey to help us understand the concerns and needs of our staff. We are proud of the meaningful changes we have implemented across all programs/departments from the top down and continue to make our employees satisfaction a priority. The survey results were shared with SEO’s board and a major budget increase was approved to invest in training and to hire more team members to reduce excessive workloads where they exist. SEO’s recent rapid growth has caused some internal challenges and we are making meaningful changes so everyone who works at SEO feels empowered to perform at their highest level as well as work in a collaborative environment with supportive managers. Anything less is not acceptable. We are grateful for your feedback. Please feel free to contact Maria Fornario at 646-230-0253 or email at mfornario@seo-usa.org if you would like to share additional feedback. Thank you.
1.0
Nov 11, 2016

Absolutely Dysfunctional

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Mission driven. Fulfilling to work with the students.

Cons

Poor leadership. Micromanagers from the top down. Nasty gossip always being spread. Constant mention of money going missing. This trickles down to the directors who are petty and vindictive. People have been put on performance improvement plans for solely disagreeing with directors and HR is ineffective at doing anything about it. HR suggests employees play the game rather than address directors who practice retaliation. Staff mocks students to their face and behind closed doors, even going so far as to make fun of a student's faith guiding decisions. Directors continually undermine each other and make everything a competition, to the detriment of their subordinates. People are mistakenly fired for a day without the knowledge of their supervisors, only to be rehired and told it was a "mistake". I've never been at an organization that was so toxic, destructive and embracing of fear culture. I think that this is because the majority of the employees come from cutthroat finance organizations, and they don't know how to let go of that unproductive behavior when they come to the non-profit world. It's discomforting when everyone, including the directors, is constantly applying and looking for new jobs. How can one thrive in an organization like that?

Viewing 7 - 9 of 207 Reviews

Glassdoor has 284 SEO reviews submitted anonymously by SEO employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if SEO is right for you.