YWCA reviews

They are dedicated to supporting the well-being of their employees.

My time at the YWCA Edmonton was unfortunately very disappointing. I was initially very excited to be starting with the YWCA as they are a large name in the community and have a seemingly outstanding reputation. However, it became quite evident that the working environment inside the organization was rather toxic and leadership at the Director level was incredibly mismanaged. Policies were changing back and forth faster than employees could keep up with, and the higher ups were distastefully performative and lacking the ability to connect with their coordinators. The Director, Greig Smith, will not look at you or acknowledge you in common spaces, any attempts at connecting with or communicating with him is met with a dismissive attitude. He will make uncomfortable eye contact during department or all staff meetings, usually when he is giving insincere speeches. I found it deeply unsettling and unprofessional when Greig Smith would raise his voice during these meetings. Greig seems to overly enjoy honing in and humiliating employees when he deems their works is subpar, or when honest mistakes were being made. No genuine effort is put into his employees to encourage their growth. He will simply fire you. There is a clear lack of loyalty to his employees. 6 out of 9 coordinators were actively looking for work else where due to his behaviour and how stressful it was to work under him. Greig made the YWCA an almost unbearable place to work with his arrogance and inability to be a human. He holds the title of Director, but he is not a leader of any kind. The YWCA was an organization founded by women to create a safe work environments for other women. I find it painfully ironic they hired a man who is making it a hostile work environment for his employees comprised of mostly women, Fems & non-binary folk. The learning environment was very difficult. Lead Coordinators were overworked and their schedules overbooked, which meant they were unable to properly support their teams. Service Coordinators had to relay on each other to learn their role and to have each others backs. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have lasted as long as I did. Newly hired Assistant Director, Allison Correia, would use tactics of being warm and friendly to get information out of employees to then use against them later. She also broke many FOIP & confidentiality policies within the organization so she could brag to other employees about information she was sitting on. It was weird and uncomfortable. I'd say she's the teenage bully in a management position. Workload expectations were wild. It became obvious the YWCA Edmonton values quantity over quality with how big their caseloads are. You will not be given appropriate time to complete all tasks. They will simply heap more and more and more on. Many of the contractors I connected with told the same story: feeling ignored/neglected, no communication, and not being heard or listened to. I came into the service coordinator role enthusiastic to be learning new skills and positively impacting the lives of the people they serve. The reality is it left me dejected and rethinking my career path. No one should ever feel that way about a career they feel passionate about. My honest opinion, if you are seeking employment here within their disability services department, you are best to go somewhere else. They will not dedicated the true time and effort it takes to get you properly trained to do your job with confidence. You will get nailed to the wall for failing and they will take absolutely no accountability for failing you.