|
private:themichaelj.foxfoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=138284
|
Apr 28th, 2021 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
Associate Director
|
New York, NY
|
|
Revolving Door of Talent
|
|
Benefits are pretty good. Some really great people. Before COVID some really fun events.
|
Revolving door of talent. Always reshuffling departments. Leaders transfer departments and it gets confusing. Initiatives are built and then when people leave they fall apart. Just feels kinda aimless. Too top heavy. No transparency.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
0.0
|
2.0
|
4.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
5.0
|
1.0
|
|
138284
|
Open
|
Google stability and try it out.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
|
|
private:themichaelj.foxfoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=138284
|
Mar 2nd, 2021 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
Associate Director, Research
|
New York, NY
|
|
Great place for early career growth
|
|
Supportive and collaborative team. Opportunities to implement your own ideas.
|
Very meeting intensive. Things sometimes change for no obvious reason, but because people think they need to change things to show productivity.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
4.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
|
138284
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
|
|
private:themichaelj.foxfoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=138284
|
Oct 8th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
Coordinator
|
New York, NY
|
|
Great place to work
|
|
Lots of independence / autonomy
Smart, encouraging coworkers
|
Internal communication system is lacking
Promotion process is tough
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.0
|
5.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
|
138284
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
|
|
private:themichaelj.foxfoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=138284
|
Oct 18th, 2019 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
Advancement Officer
|
|
|
A truly special place to work!
|
|
Many caring and considerate co-workers. I have never worked at a place before that showed such an interest in their employees. They have flexible work options, provide many opportunities for staff to get to get to know each other, many professional development opportunities, and so much more.
|
I live in New Jersey and have to commute to the city. However, because of the flexible work opportunities I have been able to work from home when needed.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
1.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
|
138284
|
Open
|
Keep asking questions about how to improve the life of your employees. It has made a lot of positive impact on your employees because we actually get to see our ideas considered and put into practice.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
1.0
|
|
|
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
|
|
private:themichaelj.foxfoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=138284
|
Aug 26th, 2019 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
New York, NY
|
|
Highly mission-driven organization in a period of growth
|
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation is highly mission-focused; we want to speed drug development to bring better therapies to people living with Parkinson's disease as soon as possible. Period. Even in occasional moments where we may begin to veer off course, it's refreshing to see that leadership/staff will try to ask ourselves whether our work is accomplishing that mission. If the answer is "no", we have the opportunity to pivot. In my experience in other organizations that strive to adhere to their mission, I have yet to see an organization so vehemently adhere to theirs as MJFF. It's one of the reasons I continue to enjoy my work here.
Because the foundation is growing, it is an incredible place of opportunity for those who are ambitious, self-starters, and proactive. With the Parkinson's disease research ecosystem completely influx and growing, the foundation has been following suit, so the organizational structure has been changing...and changing fast! For those who pay attention to impending changes and can independently make a case for how they can help support the expanding business (aka. what value they can bring to the business), they have been rewarded for their pro-activity and business sense. Personally, I've been encouraged by witnessing the rewards of this proactive behavior - makes me want to be more creative myself!
By nature of the mission, the staff at MJFF are incredible. They are fully committed to the cause, and you will not meet a more collaborative group. Coming in to work every day to work alongside this amazing group, from our front desk staff to our leadership team, has been such a pleasure for the past 5+ years. Even the teams that are solely focused on research projects are completely committed to the patient community and making sure that our research agenda supports patients. It's truly inspiring to see and it's what keeps me coming in day after day. From the top down, you see rock stars all around!
The work-life flexibility at MJFF has been fantastic in the past year. I was truly impressed when leadership implemented an employee-led task-force to develop recommendations for workforce flexibility recommendations. It was a great example of MJFF leadership responding to employee feedback and harnessing employee enthusiasm to create change. Most of my team now takes advantage of remote work capabilities, which in turn has led to more productivity.
The benefits are unprecedented for a non-profit, in my career experience. Time off, work flex, 401K contributions, etc. are all above or on par with other organizations. While I can't speak for salaries across the foundation, I can say that at least for the salary's on my team that I have been privy to, the compensation has been commensurate with experience and in-line with market value for a non-profit.
|
This is a rapidly expanding non-profit organization, so growing pains are rampant. What was very recently a 60-person, nimble start-up has become a 160+ person organization within only a couple of years. It's not a surprise that the organization struggles with communication, technology, meeting culture, etc. As an employee who has been at the organization for 5+ years, I can say that leadership has been generally effective at eventually addressing org-wide issues in a productive way. Has this always happened promptly? No. Has it always been successful the first time around? No. Has there always been transparency into how decisions are made to address problems? No. But from my perspective, senior leadership does care about the foundation and it's employees and wants to help address the challenges. They just may not know how to best address the issue right away, or have the bandwidth to prioritize it among many other staff issues. As someone who has worked at many other dysfunctional organizations prior to joining MJFF, these issues are expected but absolutely must be addressed as quickly as possible.
Per my comments above, those who are proactive self-starters and know how to advocate for their growth within an expanding organization are rewarded. Which means that those who do not are most likely to miss opportunities. I don't think this is at all unique to MJFF, but it does mean that good talent that doesn't have the confidence or the skills to self-advocate have a higher likelihood of being overlooked for opportunities. Again, not an issue that's exclusive to MJFF, but worth being aware of.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
1.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
|
138284
|
Open
|
Keep up the trend of more transparent communication to all-staff. With a staff that is generally committed to the mission, the more context they have around decision-making will only help them serve as vocal ambassadors for the cause.
Provide transparency around salary bands and how that compares to market research. Staff were told we would have this information years ago, and we still haven't received any follow-up from HR. The fact that HR has not followed up on this with staff causes gossip. In the meantime, there are rumors or perceptions (or truths?) that MJFF staff are paid under market, which anecdotal evidence suggests is untrue. It's unclear to staff why this communication is taking so long, so it would be beneficial to have some kind of transparent staff communication plan as soon as possible.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
6.0
|
|
|
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
|
|
private:themichaelj.foxfoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=138284
|
Jul 23rd, 2019 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
Associate Director
|
New York, NY
|
|
Please just listen
|
|
I came here to address the review from July 12, but upon reading the most recent review posted on July 15, I could not have stated it any better myself. The July 12th review is correct in a lot of the pros listed, but the fashion in what it was written was quite offensive. The PTO combined with the week off on July 4th is wonderful. Although, I would argue most companies in NYC offer north of 20 days off, but still a definite pro for the Fox Foundation. HR has made major strides in the flexible working space to catch up to what most companies are doing already in 2019 (technology is kind of amazing for connectivity – great we caught on!). And yes, highly impactful work for the amazing beyond belief patient community. They are true heroes that deserve a cure and all the respect in the world. What our Research team is doing is unparalleled in the PD space. And per the July 15 review – Michael is THE BEST. You are just giddy when he pops in. The rest, I will cover in cons to reply to some of what was covered in the 7/15 review.
|
Those cunning, savvy, highly political employees with the right background can place themselves in the Cofounder's inner orbit. I would say this is about 10 percent of the ~250 staff members. As the earlier review pointed out, of that 10 %, perhaps one in is a poc. Unless you’re in this small number of staff who have used their Machiavellian ways to endear themselves to the Cofounder or are lucky enough to be on MDS where career growth is plausible, don’t even try to grow your career at the Fox Foundation. And yes, we all expected to be underpaid upon joining a nonprofit, but not THIS underpaid. I could deal with a low salary if I at least thought I had the respect of my peers, department, and senior leaders. However, this was not the case at all. I was let go from the Foundation, and in my opinion, it was due to a poor manager, an SVP of my department who never bothered to learn my name, and the merciless leadership in HR (there is indeed one HR professional who actually practiced empathy and heard me in my time of need). I do not care about how much the C-suite is paid, I care about paying my bills and the Foundation barely covered it. Compared to most nonprofits, our wages for junior staff are unmistakably low. The “if you don’t like it, then leave attitude” is rude and severely out of touch. Additionally, the micro trigger training was extraordinarily helpful and eye-opening. It was one of the best trainings I have been to and I implore you to do it again. There are poc who feel marginalized in this organization and to take your eyes off the ball here is disappointing. Now to the cofounder! Again, I was not the calculating type that could place myself well (just never been my style) so we never interacted. However, it wasn’t that she didn’t bother to learn my name, it was that she literally stuck her nose in the air when I walked by. Someone mentioned a “let them eat cake” environment. I can see that entirely. To reduce all these grievances to a bunch of petty, gossipy employees are again, out of touch and also cruel. Many of us have experienced real trauma as a result of working at the Fox Foundation. I may have vented my frustrations to my colleagues, but referring to these reviews as the work of “small subset of employees choose to spend most of their time and energy gossiping” is arrogant and just untrue and offensive. I would also avoid catering to millennials as Gen-Zers are now entering the workforce. I would just cater to engaging the staff, growing talent, and treating them with respect in a general.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
16.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
1.0
|
|
138284
|
Open
|
“Listen. Just listen. With an open mind. You have people across the organization asking, pleading, begging you to listen. You have an extremely talented member of your HR team who can help you weed through to discover some very real, very hard truths. Use the talent you have - don't toss it aside because it doesn't fit the narrative you've built in your head. Michael and the entire PD community deserve so much more.” I really can’t say it any better.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
1.0
|
|
|
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
|
|
private:themichaelj.foxfoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=138284
|
Jul 15th, 2019 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
|
|
Trends Don't Lie
|
|
All the same that has been mentioned. A mission you can't find fault with, a magnanimous and benevolent leader in Michael J. Fox. Decent salary and benefits for the NP sector (though there is a pretty significant pay disparity and unfortunately, due to the makeup of senior vs junior staff, also represents a pretty wide gap in white vs poc pay scale). Good office location and fair time off. HR has made some great strides in moving the organization towards greater flexibility including a more inclusive remote work policy and flexible schedules.
|
Similarly - most of my cons are represented by what others have said before me. But let's build on this and let's not pull any punches. The point of this review is to let individuals know what they would get for culture at the Foundation, and to hopefully shine some light to senior leadership as to the very real areas that need to be addressed.
These reviews have become a series of staff consistently repeating the same themes about problems between the top tiers of the organization and those below. And the top tiers continue to sweep these items under the rug. An organization of such magnitude and respect should NOT be churning through staff like a laundry machine. Put the load in, wring em out, dump and bring in the next load.
You have staff people that are smart and talented. They want to grow within the organization. Look - there's a lot to running an organization the size and scope of MJFF and so some of the decisions are going to seem like they were made in a vacuum. But this is more than programmatic initiatives. This is an environment where senior leadership are so far removed from the day to day struggles of junior staff that it has literally become a "let them eat cake" kind of situation. On my last week at MJFF , I sat in on a meeting attended by a number of SVP's and VP's where these reviews and the feelings shared in them were discussed - promptly made fun of and dismissed. This was a mix of senior and junior staff in the room. Now you tell me there's not a gossip problem there that stems from the top.
And look at a recent review - to come onto Glassdoor and make fun of a microtrigger training - that's not a microaggression - that's an all out attack on someone and it needs to be addressed and dealt with.
And finally, one of the most absolutely offensive events that I witnessed during my tenure at MJFF was the outright racism when staff of color were effectively removed from the front desk area when a wealthy white donor came for a meeting. Not that someone was there to greet this person - the staff who usually manned the front desk were asked to step away and other team members (white, young, female) would be there to greet the donor. After reporting this to HR, I was told that even though the optics were bad it wasn't "meant" that way. I dont' care how it was "meant" - anyone with eyes could see what happened there. You tell me that was not a problem that doesn't demo the need for an overhaul of management from the top down?
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
26.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
1.0
|
|
138284
|
Open
|
Listen. Just listen. With an open mind. You have people across the organization asking, pleading, begging you to listen. You have an extremely talented member of your HR team who can help you weed through to discover some very real, very hard truths. Use the talent you have - don't toss it aside because it doesn't fit the narrative you've built in your heard. Michael and the entire PD community deserve so much more.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
|
|
private:themichaelj.foxfoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=138284
|
Jul 12th, 2019 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
Associate Director
|
New York, NY
|
|
Impactful organization with an ambitious mission
|
|
Safe to say my opinion of MJFF is quite different than that of some other recent reviewers. First, let me start with the facts. Calling MJFF a sweatshop (as one former employee does in a review below) is ludicrous. Here’s what employees get at this “sweatshop”:
• 18 PTO days per year, regardless of your level of tenure, plus all major holidays, summer Fridays, and a free week in July when the entire office is closed. You are actually encouraged to take your PTO and are not expected to be “online” at all when out of the office.
• Amazing benefits for which the Foundation pays 90% of premiums. MJFF also offers employees a Health Reimbursement Account that pretty much guarantees that you don’t have to spend more than $750 on medical costs in a year.
• A 401k to which the Foundation contributes 6% of salary, regardless of how much the employee contributes or how long they are have been at the Foundation.
• A HIGHLY flexible workplace. Employees can work from home pretty much whenever they want, as long as they are getting their work done. Those that live far away and need a work from home arrangement can work with their manager to set it up. This was something senior leadership rolled out in response to feedback from employees—an example of how leadership makes a good-hearted, robust effort to help employees work happily and effectively.
• A chance to grow your career and be exposed to a diverse range of responsibilities as a junior employee. If you are someone who values a fast-paced work environment where two days are rarely the same, you can thrive here. Contrary to many reviewers have said, you can grow your career at MJFF. The Foundation promotes a very high percentage of the workforce every year. For every dissatisfied former employee posting on Glassdoor, there are many more employees who are happily growing their careers at MJFF.
As far as the impact of the organization, the proof is in the pudding. MJFF started by raising a few million dollars in 2000 and now raises over $100M per year. Of this, nearly 90% is spent on research. Meanwhile, the Foundation has helped catalyze pharma interest in funding PD research and put in place innovative programs that help advance the entire research field. These are not the achievements of a “mismanaged” organization with “poor leadership” and “wasted potential.” These are the achievements of a world class organization. That being said, being a non-profit that operates this efficiently at such a high-level comes with some consequences:
• Most employees are underpaid. You should be willing to accept that if you can succeed at MJFF it likely means you could make a lot more money somewhere else. You should have also known this when you agreed to work at a non-profit in the first place. This is balanced out by work flexibility, excellent benefits, the fact that you can leave at 5pm everyday, etc. For those that say the C-Suite is overpaid, remind yourself of the achievements above and consider that perhaps this compensation is well-earned. Also, take a look at the pay discrepancies between C-suite/entry level at most for-profit companies…
• Highly nimble workforce that is continuously adjusting priorities. Drug development is constantly shifting, and MJFF is constantly trying to deploy its resources to bring the most value and impact for the PD community. A consequence of this is that projects employees work on may change unexpectedly. One way to look at this as a junior-level employee is that this is unfair. Another way is to see it as an opportunity to learn new skills/diversify your work experience. I would also venture a guess that the same people who are complaining that their job changed would also be complaining if they were stuck doing the same job for a few years.
A few words in defense of the CEO and Co-Founder…the Co-Founder travels 200 days a year and is usually in the office maximum of a few days each week. If she doesn’t know your name, it’s not because she is arrogant, she obviously doesn’t have time to interact with every staff member (even still, she sets up dinner with junior staff of departments with whom she doesn't frequently interact with, in an effort to meet more people and be more approachable). The CEO too travels frequently but makes constant efforts to engage with all-levels of staff and is never anything but friendly and approachable. Anyone who works with these two closely understands that they are actually remarkably humble/grounded for people of their stature, and that every decision they make is to advance the best interests of the organization/PD community.
|
Yes, there are some sub-par managers. I implore you to find me an organization where this isn’t true. Excellent managers are rare, but that is not a phenomenon particular to MJFF—it takes a special person to be able to manage well while performing the numerous other aspects of his/her job at a high level, especially at a place like MJFF, where everyone is balancing high workloads. Although I can’t speak for everyone as a manager, having worked directly with almost all the VPs/SVPs during my time there, I can say from experience that the vast majority of them are smart, professional, diligent people who know their business inside out and who are working urgently to advance the best interests of the Parkinson’s community.
A small subset of employees choose to spend most of their time and energy gossiping and complaining about other peoples’ titles and salaries (I suspect former members of this group are writing most of the negative reviews on this site). My advice to new hires: focus on your own career and not their negativity. The vast majority of people you interact with will be highly impressive and a pleasure to work with.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
11.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
|
138284
|
Open
|
Keep up holding the frequent all staffs. Have more junior level staff present at these to share what they are working on with their colleagues. This is a professional development opportunity for them and can also address the complaints about “lack of clear direction/strategy.”
Consider a more liberal gala attendance policy for junior level staff. A fun party once a year could go a long way.
Instead of holding a mandatory all-staff “Microtriggers” training to basically teach everyone how to tell everyone else when they feel offended, hold an all-staff training to teach everyone how to give and receive constructive criticism.
Hire someone who has the capacity and authority to engage the millennial members of the workplace, and consider a time-bound entry-level rotational program to get top talent into the organization before they leave for med school, masters, PhD, etc.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
|
|
private:themichaelj.foxfoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=138284
|
Jul 2nd, 2019 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
Officer
|
|
|
Cliquey and Rude
|
|
Actual scientists evaluate the research funded
|
No one likes each other. The receptionists are pretty much the only consistently friendly people. Upper management is extremely cliquey. High turnover because they don’t actually want to pay people who should be paid. Rude HR department
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
15.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
1.0
|
|
138284
|
Open
|
Get your act together, treat all your employees with respect, teach upper management actual management skills, don’t occupy everyone’s days with pointless meetings to discuss work they won’t have time to do, and spend less time tooting your horn and do more of the work.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
1.0
|
|
|
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
|
|
private:themichaelj.foxfoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=138284
|
Jun 22nd, 2019 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
Community Engagement Officer
|
New York, NY
|
|
MJFF reviews
|
|
Good work environment, positive message and mission statement.
|
Unorganized management, shifting goals and departments.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
|
138284
|
Open
|
Be clearer with your next steps, be truthful to your employees
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
Apr 28th, 2021 07:34PM
|
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
|
|
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
|