Working at Trans Empowerment Project
Building a future where 2TIGE people don’t just survive — we thrive.
At Trans Empowerment Project, we show up every day with one goal in mind:
moving our 2TIGE community out of crisis and into empowerment.
To do that, we have to practice what we teach both inside of our programs
and inside our workplace. Our staff culture is built on transparency, trust,
accountability, healing-centered leadership, and a shared commitment to equity.
We’re not perfect (no organization is) but we are deeply committed to
learning, repairing harm, and aligning our actions with our values. This page
exists to help you understand exactly what it means to work with us in any capacity.
Our Values in Action
We’re Building Actual Equity
We do that by
- Providing a workspace that is free from white supremacy
- Providing staff and volunteers with clear expectations and role definitions
- Providing transparency in our decision-making
- Providing accommodations without pushback
- Providing trauma-informed care and trainings for our team
- Providing restorative accountability practices for all
- Putting our people first
Communication + Clarity Are Our Love Languages
- Comprehensive onboarding
- Written workflows and policies available through our intranet
- Weekly check-ins – Typically alternating between one on ones or group check-ins; though more frequently if and when needed.
- Clear documentation for everything we do – if anything is ever missing, let us know!
- Collaborative work environment – every single member of our team plays a valuable role for each of our projects
- Direct, compassionate feedback – we believe in coaching and will work with you every step of the way, including building an action plan, informed by our staff if/when our team falls short of our commitments
- No “read between the lines” leadership
We Don’t Do Exploitation
We strive to provide care
- Realistic workloads (Volunteers are never asked to commit to more than 5hrs/week and full-time staff are never required to work more than 36hrs/week)
- Flexible schedules
- TEP adopted a 4 day work week (Mon-Thurs 10-7pm) in 2022 with Fridays acting as optional days and/or makeup days whenever needed
- Staff and volunteers may work outside of these hours, but should not expect others to do the same.
- Mental health days
- Clear urgency vs. emergency boundaries
- Healthy, sustainable expectations communicated up-front and with as much lead time as possible, if/when changes need to occur.
Accountability Is a Practice, Not a Punishment
Feedback and accountability are not always comfortable. Therefore, we believe in maintaining a space for
- Open dialogue
- Collaborative problem solving
- Clear documentation
- Repair when harm occurs
- Supportive, non-retaliatory processes
Anyone experiencing an issue with any member of our team may reach out to a trusted member of our leadership team or by emailing [email protected].
We Lead With Joy and Liberation
Even in crisis work, (especially in crisis work) joy is a strategy for resilience. We bring humor,
humanity, and celebration into our workplace as often as possible because liberation isn’t just
the destination, it’s the path.
We do this with relaxed group chat spaces designed to get to know each other, team mixers, and more.
Our Employer Commitments
Transparent Hiring
- Clear job descriptions
- Stated pay ranges
- Interview transparency
- Documented onboarding
Competitive, Equitable Pay
- Upfront salary expectations, listed with each role
- Never exploiting lived experience
- No inequitable compensation
- Ensuring all roles meet fair-market standards
Supportive Leadership
- Trauma-informed leadership trainings available through our in-house training portal
- Deep commitment to anti-racist and anti-ableist practices at all levels
- Accessible communication
- Solutions-oriented feedback
Work-Life Integration
- Flexible scheduling
- Realistic workloads
- Respect for personal boundaries
- Body doubling spaces available for remote workers
Our Approach to Feedback & Concerns
Feedback is one of the most valuable gifts that we can receive as an organization. This is especially true when that feedback isn’t positive. Therefore, we highly encourage every member of our staff or volunteer team to speak up early and often. We take every single piece of feedback that we receive seriously to ensure that we maintain a culture that is free from both burnout and white supremacy.
Although we may not always get it right, we document every claim very carefully, and work collaboratively, as a team, to reach solutions that ensure everyone feels valued while in our spaces.
Our commitment to you:
- Listening without defensiveness
- Acting without retaliation
- Repairing without shame
- Communicating clearly about next steps
Online Reviews
At Trans Empowerment Project, we believe deeply in transparency. That includes feedback about our workplace. Anonymous online reviews can offer helpful insights, and we take every opportunity to learn, grow, and strengthen our culture when we receive those reviews.
However, we also know that anonymous platforms sometimes reflect experiences that are incomplete, inaccurate, or shaped by conflict that could not be resolved directly. That’s the nature of anonymous online spaces: they can blend valid concerns with misunderstandings or personal grievances, and readers often do not get to see the full context.
What we can say clearly is this:
We stand firmly behind our documented policies, accountability practices, and commitment to equity and support for our staff. We maintain thorough records of communication, expectations, and accommodations, and we consistently strive to address concerns directly, ethically, and with care.
We also know that:
- Performance concerns can be hard for people to hear
- Accountability can feel uncomfortable for anyone
- Transitions can bring up big emotions
Therefore, anonymous platforms sometimes become a space to process conflict rather than resolve it.
In closing:
We welcome direct, honest dialogue from anyone seeking clarity about our culture, our practices, or our commitments as an employer.
Our values guide our leadership, and those values will always be more reliable than any anonymous review.
If you have questions or want to understand what it’s truly like to work within our community-centered, equity-based team, we invite you to reach out directly. We will remain transparent, open to feedback, and committed to continual improvement grounded in truth; not rumors.