Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Reviews about "culture"

Pros

Mission. Intellectual capacity/desire to do good of staff

Cons

Overly political and hierarchical management culture

Pros

Without doubt, BMGF is a place that can do so much good. It has nearly unlimited resources to change the world and make it a better place. The mission is inspiring. The employee benefits are very good, health insurance, 401k contributions and leave surpass your typical job anyday.

Cons

It is a pity that BMGF management and work culture suck (pardon the language). There is continuous change with strategy processes that do not make much sense. Senior management egos drive the organization. There is no rules based process, even critical functions like HR are subject to whims of program leaders. As there is no independent Board, such practices flourish. Superior subject matter experts, like a former family pl director, are summarily fired and replaced with management stooges like former HR professionals with no background in the subject. It is a pitiful state of affairs and what is even more pitiful is that leadership at CEO level does not take notice or rectify the situation.

Pros

-Inspiring mission with ability to connect your work every day to that mission -Opportunity to do interesting and novel work constantly; if you are willing to lean in to it, you can find tons of ways to add value -Amazing benefits - frankly, I can't imagine finding better ones anywhere -Smart and motivated colleagues -Decent work/life balance (somewhat depends on your team but if you're willing to set personal boundaries, people generally respect them) -Senior leadership's priorities are in the right place

Cons

-No clear or logical pathways for promotion -Job title in the program officer family can feel arbitrarily assigned -Visible voices and charisma are valued over quality of work execution; translates into a culture where men are systematically valued over women -You need a manager who values your work and advocates for you to move ahead; if you don't have that, you are out of luck -They over-hire and hire often without a clear idea of what folks will do when they get there -Senior leadership priorities don't always get translated to action that makes sense

Pros

You will never work with a more talented and accomplished group of peers who share a deep commitment to a common goal. There are amazing people here.

Cons

The organizational and management culture is challenging: a self-imposed emphasis on speed with rapid cycles of rethinking seem, in some strategies at least, to result in lots of false starts. On the team I joined, we had a very high turnover rate, especially at the higher levels, which was frustrating.

Pros

Benefits and mission are excellent

Cons

Culture is toxic and impractical - well intended but exhausting

Pros

1. Opportunity to play a part in addressing some of the biggest, most important challenges of our time 2. You'll get professional opportunities here you won't get anywhere else (e.g. who you get to work with, events you get to participate in, speakers that come to the foundation) 3. Unparalleled benefits 4. Beautiful workspace 5. Very flexible working schedule

Cons

You're experience will vary widely team-by-team, but basically: 1. The foundation has yet to create a culture and work environment where people of different backgrounds can thrive. Right now, it favors workaholic types with American communication styles (e.g. speaking in bullets, very direct) 2. Pretty much constant change--the decision-making process for which is not always transparent or fair. 3. While the CEO and executive leadership team are trying to address this, managers are generally pretty weak. Don't expect a lot of time or support in terms of mentorship or support to grow your career. 4. Because there are few open positions, it can be hard to 'move up'--especially from PO to SPO and SPO to DD.

Pros

Opportunity to work with passionate, driven, and smart people on complex and important global (and domestic) challenges. There is a growing focus on inclusive culture and equitable partnerships (with a lot of room for growth). Excellent benefits. Ability to move around through backfill and interim roles.

Cons

Bureaucratic/political work environment, and priorities are set from the top so a lot of time spent managing up. People managers are a very rare commodity - leadership hired for their technical expertise, not for their skills in managing people/relationships/conflict/etc. Competitive work environment with antiquated philosophies (in the already problematic field of philanthropy) around investing. Lack of transparency into leadership decision making.

Pros

Great impact and unlimited resources

Cons

Slow culture and lots of navel gazing

Pros

The mission is fantastic. The benefits are amazing. If you are on a good team, the colleagues are great. Most people have their heart in the right place.

Cons

It's a large group of type-A personalities in one space. Tools don't always work together. Can be very bogged down with red tape and the culture can be fraught with minefields. Some teams are quite dysfunctional.

Pros

Amazing network, great benefits, work from home Fridays, knowledge acquisition. There are always speakers and big events going on at Gates. Attending these events was like getting a masters in topic specific public health without paying tuition. There is a lot of opportunity to learn at Gates.

Cons

The culture can be quite cut throat and the tension around the office can get intense. There a many systems in place that do not work effectively and hinder performance.