Chemonics International Employee Reviews about "opportunities to travel"

Cons

For some, it can be hard to move up and receive salary compensation for the work and level at which you really are.

Cons

For a company that is involved in maternal health, paid leave is ridiculous (only 12 weeks for mother or father). Though I’m general colleagues are phenomenal, some in senior leadership are horrible human beings and seem to relish in lower level staff having to work two or three jobs to afford rent (while they make over 250k a year). Luckily, at the mid-level, you probably I retract with executive leadership twice a year. So not really a deal breaker. Also: HORRIBLE work life balance. EVPs will spew the same company jargon about “take your time off: enjoy your family”, but it really depends on who your Managing Director (essentially the Manager of a team or project) is. Be prepared to work weekends pretty constantly.

Cons

Chemonics pays below market rate. Work-life balance can often be difficult to achieve. Your experience will also be shaped by who your direct supervisor is. Some are fantastic, while others can micromanage and provide inconsistent feedback, creating a very difficult work environment. Chemonics' benefits package could also be much better.

Cons

PMU work is either boring or stressful, and rarely anything else. Most associates and managers are left to do tedious administrative work which feels meaningless and very far from the work Chemonics does on the ground. Instead of adequately staffing PMUs and new business teams, the company leaves staff in acting roles for months and expects them to cover already short-staffed teams. Despite its lip-service, the company values profit over its employees' well-being. Get what you can from Chemonics and then move on to somewhere that treats its employees with more care.

Cons

Worked for Chemonics well over 5 years and what it was when I started is nothing like it is today...which is sad. I loved what is stood for, the impact it made and the work it did. Now its all about paying off the ESOP loan and standardizing everything to a point people cant think for themselves and can't come up with amazing proposals to save their life because its not on a work instruction. Environment is so negative and people are annoyed with the executive team (especially SVPs) and it shows in their work and day to day interactions. People only focus on the negative and not acknowledge success or hard work. People will throw you under the bus in a second to make themselves look good to their SVP because SVPs only care about those who make THEM look good, not the actual work or success of their region. Some SVPs actively pick favorites and are rude to their employees. It is surprising that they don't want to create a collaborative work environment since Chemonics is designed that way.Feels very high school. New crop of those employed are older and more qualified than the Entry Level program is designed for. They come in underpaid to start and get annoyed very quickly that people don't appreciate their talents right off the bat. They are inpatient to learn the Chemonics process and project management. This becomes frustrating for managers. This is a mix of a the attitude of 20 somethings in DC lately and Chemonics hiring over qualified people in entry level positions. In one instance my director was younger than me and my associate was my age but more of an education than myself or boss. Chemonics downsized through attrition, but everyone refers to it as forced attrition. All of the senior talent in the manager and director levels left the company and were replaced with the less qualified people but the executive office was happy because they are cheaper and have less personal demands.

Cons

- Staff at the Director level and above tend to be Chemonics lifers, who either stay in one division for decades, or get recycled endlessly around different divisions. Accountability at these levels doesn't really seem to exist - other than say bumping an SVP down to a Managing Director position if they don't win enough new business. - The pettiness at the upper levels can be really tiresome. Who's up who's down, who won't work with whom. Dear god, it can feel like middle school. Managers and associates see this and it doesn't reflect well. - Managers tend to reach a plateau. After a while, you've done all the new business roles, you've done most of the billable roles that home office staff typically do (work plan, annual report, start-up, close-out, grants, mid-term field assignment, etc. etc.), and you sort of hit a wall. Chemonics does not do a good job of helping mid-level staff get to that next level. You can take on a long-term field role, or you can continue month after month doing the same thing until someone realizes you've been there for 10 years and are probably ready to be a Director. - Further to my point above - there are extremely limited options for developing real, marketable technical skills, and almost no opportunities for actual technical field work (unless you consider things like grants administration, or annual/quarterly report writing technical work). - The culture (and thus one's experience) varies widely between divisions and teams. This is the flipside to my final "pro" point. If things aren't going well (e.g. unsupportive supervisor, incompetent client counterparts, oblivious SVP, etc.), coming in to work every day can be downright miserable. This is probably true of many workplaces I guess but feels pronounced at Chemonics in how widely it can vary.

Cons

Good employees not always promoted when they should be, while other are promoted prematurely. Senior management out of touch with ins and outs of project management and client expectations.

Cons

High pressure, long hours. Lots of mundane work early on.

Cons

--ZERO work/life balance, if you aren't staying late each night, it is viewed as you not doing well at your job -workplace politics stifle actual growth -most employees only do administrative work the first 3-5 years they are with the company -no opportunities to do any technical work/travel -disconnect from the work on the ground and staff int he field. Be prepared to only communicate via email/skype and never actually meet the team members you work with in the field -strict adherence to belief that promotions should happen at milestones of employment at the company, not on actual experience. Ex - promotions only happen after an anniversary, so promotion to Manager after 2 + years at the company, not if you have the requisite 2 years for the position already -very clique heavy working environment -NO proper management of the PSM project - country programs team in the CC office is heavily disorganized and needs an overhaul -the true passion is pleasing the client, USAID, and not about improving the lives of beneficiaries in developing countries