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Sama

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Sama reviews

3.5

82% would recommend to a friend

(480 total reviews)
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Wendy Gonzalez

71% approve of CEO

37% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.8

Diversity & inclusion

3.6

Culture & values

3.6

Work/Life balance

3.3

Career opportunities

3.0

Compensation and benefits

2.9

Senior management

Sama has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 480 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Sama employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

480 reviews
3.0
Aug 7, 2015

CEO Holds Company and Mission Back

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Imperfect model that needs improvement, but makes real impact nonetheless - Good people that care about their work - Unique experience

Cons

- CEO Leila Janah does not treat her employees with any semblance of respect, and in return her employees do not respect her and do not see her as an effective leader in any capacity - CEO Leila Janah's bullying and unbalanced nature causes rapid burn out and exits at all levels of the organization - Despite many, many employees' best efforts at "operational professionalization," there has never been consistent focus on any single small or large strategy

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Sama Response
10y
I'm very sorry you feel this way and had a bad experience working at Sama. Many startups experience churn in their early years, and when I started the organization at 25, I had no real management experience outside my first job out of college. I've definitely been rude, impatient, and frustrating to work with, as have many CEOs I know who are learning the ropes. It's been a learning curve for all of us, especially as we skew young. We've moved our current management team to a more streamlined structure with clear accountability under two managing directors. I think, based on our retention and weekly meetings with me, that this group believes in our vision, in me as a leader, and in our ability to scale. We've achieved major reductions in turnover on the management team and in key functions by recruiting qualified professionals to run our core teams -- in the last two years, we've brought on an extraordinary CFO and two Managing Directors with substantial experience in their respective fields.
1.0
Jul 17, 2015

CEO can sell the idea, but that is the only thing the company has going for it

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

As someone else mentioned in a review further down, the junior team members on the first and second rungs of the organizational ladder are talented and hardworking.

Cons

Unfortunately, the company is rife with poor management and at times was borderline abusive. Turnover is extremely high-- 75% or more. The business model itself is problematic. While Samasource's delivery team is in San Francisco-- the teams of workers completing the jobs are in Kenya and India. The Sama team has a weak presence in the field where the jobs are actually completed-- this creates a huge gap between the realities the actual "disadvantaged" workers face and what the folks at HQ perceive. Aside from a small outfit they run called the Samalab in Kenya, most of the work is completed by small business process outsourcing (BPO) partners that hire workers who are best fit for the job. Many of the workers are not "disadvantaged"-- often they are middle class college grads who haven't found work elsewhere. The point is not that they should not get these jobs, but rather that the pitch Sama gives is highly misleading. The model is also not as scaleable as they'd have you believe-- most businesses cannot afford triple or quadruple redundancy for their internet connection in Kenya and Uganda (where they have attempted to set up), given how often the internet goes down in the region. It is not possible to run a reliable BPO out of an IDP camp without the appropriate infrastructure. This company is a lot of hype and has been running on the fumes of good story telling. Also to echo the reviews below, the CEO should have been replaced long ago. The whole organization seems to operate like a publicity stunt for her personal gain. Quite frankly this was the worst employer I've ever worked for.

1.0
Sep 22, 2015

Work somewhere else

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company mission is worthwhile, even if it's not evident day-to-day. Some of the employees are great people and fun to work with. There's definitely an effort being made to improve some of the overarching issues within the company.

Cons

The company is an absolute mess, employees are disheartened and frustrated with poor management and general lack of appreciation for hard work. Office culture is nonexistent, compensation is abysmal, and there is very little room for professional growth, if any. Oh, and the office is located on a terrible corner where you have to walk past drug dealers, garbage and human excrement on a daily basis just to get in the office.

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Sama Response
10y
I'm so sorry you had this experience working at Sama. We are trying hard to improve. Some of the issues you raise are tough for all non-profits. Sama actually ranks above the 80th percentile for compensation in the non-profit sector, partly due to our tendency to recruit people from private-sector jobs who understand our challenges as a social business. We are required, as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, to keep our compensation in the same band as other non-profits, and the reality is that we'll never be able to compete, salary-wise with private companies. That holds true for the management team as well. (I paid myself $400 a month in the first year of starting Sama, and nobody holds any equity as we're a nonprofit.) That said, we've made every effort to make this a great place to work by adopting policies including unlimited sick days, a 401k matching program, a generous parental leave and vacation policy, and flexible working schedules. As far as our office, we have tried hard to keep our overhead costs low by finding the nicest space we could in a vibrant neighborhood close to public transportation, cafes, and beautiful public spaces. The crime is regrettable, but we also feel that it's important for us to keep these costs low to pass along as much value as we can to our beneficiaries.
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Glassdoor has 660 Sama reviews submitted anonymously by Sama employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sama is right for you.