PBN Best Places to Work Awards 2021
Small Companies #1. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island
Employees in R.I.: 31
CEO Katje Afonseca
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when most Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island employees were working from home, they were occasionally asked to add another item to their to-do lists.
They were told to take some time, get off the computer and do something for themselves.
The breaks, or “mental health time,” as CEO Katje Afonseca calls them, reflect the working environment that she and other leaders at the nonprofit strive to maintain.
“Create a great work environment and they’ll want to be there. … If you have happy, healthy employees who can focus on their lives, they’re going to come to work and do good work,” Afonseca said. “Not only do we enable our employees to put their families first but when they come to work, we’re a mission-based organization. Those two things combined make [Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island] a really great place to work.”
Afonseca leaned on that philosophy during the stress and uncertainty created by the pandemic, as the nonprofit sought to meet each employee’s needs.
Extra leave time was created to ensure that employees were not penalized for COVID-19 scares that resulted in quarantine or recovery time.
‘There’s a level of comfort to know promotions are going to be from within.'
KATJE AFONSECA, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island CEO
Virtual meetings now include more faces because nearly all staff members who were laid off at the beginning of the pandemic are back at work.
During the spring of 2020, when Rhode Island locked down as COVID-19 cases rose, 75% of the staff at Big Brothers Big Sisters lost their jobs. The organization is now fully staffed, having rehired 70% after consolidating several positions.
The fact that each employee who was offered their job back returned, despite the option of receiving unemployment benefits that at the time exceeded some salaries, is a testament to the culture at the nonprofit, Afonseca said.
Dedication to the children served by the organization resulted in at least one bright spot even while it was operating with a skeleton staff.
Once schools closed last year due to the pandemic, mentors reached out to families, asking whether kids were able to log into virtual classes.
As it turned out, 22 children in the program needed devices, and Big Brothers Big Sisters responded by distributing new Chromebooks, donated by Cox Communications, to each child.
“It was such a dark time; that was really a light for them,” Afonseca said. “The kids were just so excited to have this shiny, brand-new device to connect with their friends and do their schoolwork.”
With 31 employees, the nonprofit is not large enough to be required to adhere to the Family and Medical Leave Act, but since Afonseca took the lead as CEO in 2016, her family paid leave policy covers both men and women.
In fact, she was pregnant with her first child when she was promoted from development director to executive director, a position that was later renamed CEO, and she had good company.
Ten employees have had babies over the past decade, and two more are expecting now.
Alongside the family-friendly vibe, a set of core values and an operational strategic plan, both initiated by Afonseca, lend a unified sense of purpose to the organization.
“We’re all working toward five priority goals together,” said Afonseca, who is also CEO of The Donation Center, a partner organization that fields donations to support Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Now serving 150 children and their families, the growing organization can provide improved training and workspaces for employees, while considering a move from its current Cranston location to Providence.
Big Brothers Big Sisters employees are also able to benefit, as the group makes a point to promote from within, a practice that’s resulted in Afonseca’s rise from director of development, as well as three other recent promotions into leadership roles. Advancement for four other employees is also on the horizon.
“There’s a level of comfort to know promotions are going to be from within,” Afonseca said.
