Toxic work environment - Anonymous employee Invisible Children Employee Review

Truly exceptional people and culture

Sacrificial work culture; lower pay

Everybody is extremely talented and hard working. There are no weak links. The majority of staff started out as interns or volunteers (though only a very small percentage of interns are offered jobs). Self-starters thrive here. If you want to bring a problem to the attention of management, you don't schedule a meeting, you just start fixing it. If you want to join a team, it's your job to find a way to make yourself valuable. The mission is the unifying factor. You might not know much about the LRA conflict when you start working there, but it will be a matter of weeks until you find yourself personally (and entirely) committed to the company's mission to bring a permanent end to LRA atrocities. There's a large and tight-knit community of former employees and interns. There's real value in being an Invisible Children alum.

Because most employees feel a personal and emotional commitment to stopping LRA atrocities, achieving work / life balance is difficult. Long-term planning isn't IC's strong suit. Plans usually extend 3-6 months into the future. It's what makes the company so adaptable, but it's hard on employees. One sprint follows another, with hardly any time to recover in between.