Working at American Public Education

Was once a good, strong organization. There are a handful of excellent team members and collaborators left in the organization. There are also a handful of good managers, who make staying worthwhile. These people quickly find jobs elsewhere as working with leadership is tiresome, fruitless, and frustrating.

This organization has fallen far and hard. Current leadership critically undervalues vital employees and undergoes frequent layoffs, hitting some of the most important contributing teams the hardest. No one is safe from leadership's incompetence in determining who can be released safely. Work is then divvied up between remaining employees, without thought for their current workloads or needs, with no promotions or increase to compensation. Leaders from the VP level and up are frequently dishonest about staffing intentions and solutions, and it is clear they are content to let the culture of the organization fail if it has a chance to put another few cents on the company stock, regardless of how it impacts learners and faculty. This is a bad organization with bad leaders who do not care about your wellbeing, your family, or your success. They will overwhelm you with work and burn you out as fast as possible, believing that you can be replaced or outsourced at the drop of a hat, despite their core infrastructure constantly failing and degrading. The leaders do not understand their responsibilities or the architecture of the tools utilized, and they do not know how to sustain them. If you are looking at employment at APEI or any of its subsidiaries, I would tell my family and friends to look elsewhere. If you have been offered a position, and have a choice of going elsewhere, I would tell my friends and family to take any other position. If you have been offered a position and don't have any other options, take it and never stop looking for something else. I had worked at this organization for 13 years. I don't like change. I had planned to retire here. I saw too many high value employees let go because leadership did not understand their role or value. I saw too many dishonest communications, false promises, and system-breaking issues caused by poor decision-making from people who were supposed to be experts, hired on because of prior relationships with leaders. I left because it was utterly clear that our leaders expected us to have no work-life balance, no boundaries they couldn't cross, and no expectations of leaders to make our expectations possible. I left on my own terms, and was not laid off, but I am confident it was only a matter of time until my value did not measure up to a few extra cents on the share price, regardless of the impact it would have on the students.

Compensation was, for some roles, fair. There was previously a generous vacation and sick time plan which appears to have been gutted since I left. Health plan was overpriced and underserved employees. The best perk was the people I worked with. Since I left, my team has been outsourced, so I can confidently say that there are no perks left at this company for me.

Nothing. They have let me down personally time and time again, and have created a toxic, nearly uninhabitable environment. I am sorely disappointed of them, and highly suspicious of their motivations. I do not believe they mean for the company to succeed.

Oust leadership immediately. Bring in new leaders with a people-first perspective who understand that complex systems and software as old as what props up this organization does not work without the people who understand it, and that you cannot migrate off of that legacy software without people who understand it. This company needs leaders who understand that the product they put in front of their customers is only as good as the workers who create and comprise that product, and that their failures to retain talent or to identify critical members of delivering their product hurts the business, even if the stock prices raise a penny or two.

I learned about the corporation, and had an honest conversation with my then-manager, who was a good person and gave me an opportunity, even though I would say I was underqualified at the time. I asked questions about the expectations upon the team and I shared my experience and how it could help the team in the state they were in.

The compensation for my role was fair. It took a lot of fighting to get it there. I know for many people and most roles (academic, administrative, and technical), they can find far better pay elsewhere.

I think APEI/APUS is somewhat fair. I had many coworkers of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.

I wouldn't have known how to answer this question while I was still with the company. Most likely the people that I worked with, because they were like family to me. Now, at a new company, I can say that I find joy in rewarding experiences with customers, knowing that the work I do makes a difference and is not undone by callous, dishonest, ineffective leaders. I find joy in working with a company who acts upon their ethics, who treats employees exceedingly well and showing in everything they do that the people that our work impacts are important, that every person and human is important and deserves dignity, and is more than a number. I still love the people I worked with at APEI, and the new people I work with now, but only after leaving was I able to experience a deeper fulfillment from my work than I was ever able to achieve working at APEI.