Guttmacher Institute Reviews

Pros

Herminia is trying to change the culture, but she is getting a lot of pushback. Some staff feel very entitled, and do not want to come into work. I say if you do not like it, then leave, don't stay and spread your toxicity

Cons

So I will not say all is roses, but there were many things that were not addressed for a long time that are being reckoned with now. Staff decided to unionize, but I am not sure they will achieve their aims with that. Historically speaking, unions have been about padding their coffers, so I hope it is different this time around.

Pros

Incredible staff overall. Brilliant and kind scholars who helped prepare me for a successful research career.

Cons

Exploitative managers were not held accountable. Leadership does not act in accordance with institutional values.

Pros

Interesting and invested colleagues at levels below Exec team. Mission of org matters so much. Great benefits.

Cons

Hierarchical to the nth degree. No transparency in decision-making. Exec team invests more in consultants than in staff.

Pros

-Truly passionate, smart, and engaging co-workers -good salary and benefits (for a non-profit)

Cons

Guttmacher has an exceptional reputation in the SRHR field for the research we produce which is entirely fair and merited. However, the past 3 years have been really difficult internally and I wonder how long this great reputation will last given how messy the day-to-day operations at the Institute are. After weathering the storm of 2018's sexual harassment case, Guttmacher employees really just wanted to be heard and to work at place that lived up to the values of reproductive justice and equity...unfortunately for us, our new CEO and the wall of execs she's built around her have had other plans. Within the past year the CEO and executive team have demoted and fired long-standing staff in retaliation for speaking up about racism and inequality in the office, refused hazard pay to admin employees that they essentially forced to commute to the office during the early months of the pandemic, announced a surprise mandatory return to the office this summer despite a grueling year of impressive work from home output, and most recently sent out an inappropriate, immature and vaguely threatening email to all staff about a tweet they didn't like. Most people I know are looking for work elsewhere. It's pretty clear that Guttmacher execs are mainly interested in looking good to funders and peer institutions, not actually modeling the values of equity and "parity" that they preach. And FYI, hiring mostly Black and brown people to boost the Institute's employment diversity statistics and then treating them poorly is actually not anti-racist, despite how hard the exec team is selling it.

Pros

Good benefits. Many staff are superb. Important work that makes a difference in the world.

Cons

- Leadership doesn’t talk to or listen to staff. They enforce unilateral and hierarchical decision making, act angry and defensive when staff have questions, and retaliate against those who disagree. Leadership does not apologize, ever admit mistakes, or respond to feedback; they treat any dissent as a personal attack. - Junior staff are overworked and underpaid, often forced to work unpaid overtime. Promotions are arbitrary, opaque, and bear no apparent connection to one’s job performance. Meanwhile vacancies linger for months and years because the organization prefers to conduct fruitless external searches rather than develop and appreciate the staff it already has. - Leadership lacks technical or strategic ability. They frequently exhibit little knowledge about our field, vision about our work, or awareness of what staff are working on. Their attitudes on SRHR are often shockingly regressive. - Leadership has wholly abandoned the commitments it made to address white supremacy in the organization and harm against staff of color. Racist, discriminatory managers are protected even as their staff are forced out. - The culture is toxic for staff who are disabled, queer, pregnant, caregivers, or in any way have human needs that interfere with being productivity robots. The organization does not live the values it preaches.

Pros

Good pay for mid- and senior level staff, great benefits, lots of passionate staff members.

Cons

- mediocre pay for junior staff, that is not in line with senior staff pay - mass exodus of staff happening now - for the past two year the organization has gotten increasingly hierarchical to the point where no one outside of the executive leadership has any idea what is going on in the organization. The ELT meets alone for multiple hours every day and no one else in the organization knows what is going on in the meetings. It leads to a culture where they are all trust and like each other and seem to not care about anyone else on staff. There is no access to senior leadership unless you happen to report to a VP and even in that case now that the ELT is so tight knit it is impossible to actually learn what is going on at a senior leadership level. - when a group of staff members complained about a toxic and abusive VP they got fired or demoted or pushed out under the guise of needing to bring in "senior leadership" for a team that already had amazing leaders. The ELT seems to care more about protecting one VP or the idea that they are untouchable than actually listening to and supporting staff. - opportunities for growth are hard to come by - and managers try to pass the buck to the people above them or blame "organizational politics" so that they don't have to take responsibility.

Pros

I feel like I'm contributing to important issues and I believe in Guttmacher's mission.

Cons

The current executive leadership doesn't seem to have a clear vision for the Institute, given the current state of abortion rights/access globally. It's also a very hierarchical organization with little to no opportunities for growth - and management's response to this is to essentially find another job. Bad manager seem to abound as well.

Pros

The staff-level employees are bright, passionate, engaged, curious and dedicated to the mission. This organization wields a tremendous amount of power with its name recognition, and has the resources to pursue ambitious projects.

Cons

Guttmacher is considered a "Policy and Research Think Tank." However, right now, there is only ONE policy analyst left. Everybody else has quit in the last year or so. Some without another job lined up. Instead of addressing the persistent leadership issues that drove out the majority of all staff from DC, management has hired an army of high-price consultants. You can check public records for all of this. Guttmacher staff are scattering to the wind and landing in leadership positions across major branches of government, nonprofits, and high-profile academic institutions. This is to say these were very capable and effective members of staff. Guttmacher is losing PhDs left and right. Management is trying to spin these departures as a natural transition, but staff are leaving because morale is abysmal, decisions are being made by detached consultants, and the looming "return to office" mandate has manufactured an ever-present source of stress. There is a persistent culture of fear, perfectionism, and kicking-down on junior staff. There is no accountability for managers, and staff run the risk of disciplinary actions if they speak out, report to their managers, or go to HR. The Prism expose only scratched the surface of bullying that is still covered up by members of management.

Pros

- Some smart, driven, dedicated, positive, problem-solving HUMANS work here! - Truly in awe of the depth of knowledge and quality of work happening with the research and the policy teams - Support staff are accommodating and kind - Great benefits - Good diversity and focus on equity centering the work - *If* your supervisor has your back, there are opportunities to learn, be self directed, work on some cool stuff.

Cons

If you're curious and creative, accustomed to voicing your opinions and sharing your ideas, and used to being given space to show what you can do, this is not the place for you right now. You'll be squashed by the relentless passivity, learned helplessness, lack of agency, and fear of change. - There's no accountability at management/leadership level. Zero. None. How can an entire division go from 11 employees to 4 within a year and the division head keep that job? - When mid-level managers shrug their shoulders or deflect questions about raises, job duties, decision making, project ownership, timelines, our strategy for confronting the Roe vs Wade crisis, that's a sign of high-up neglect. - People are afraid of speaking up, asking tough questions, disagreeing, or simply saying that something is bad because others have been called into uncomfortable meetings with managers that they leave in tears. - Anonymous complaints aren't kept anonymous. The whistleblower policy is a joke. - Paths to promotion and career development have been all but obliterated. The message seems clear: go somewhere else if you want more. (But we'll take your free labor if you work late, manage up, or fill gaps.) - Most staff groups (inclu. the racial equity and employee advocacy groups) were disbanded for arbitrary, unclear reasons.

Pros

-There are so many smart people here who want to do good work and share their expertise with the world and help solve complex problems. -The work isn't actually difficult.

Cons

In a word: leadership (or lack thereof). The executive team is an absolute disaster. Terrible judgment, totally insular, dismissive but aggressive towards staff, unwilling to hear any critiques, and in love with weaponizing their gender and race to dismiss any negative feedback. It's such a shame to see what they are doing to a once-strong organization and be unwilling to admit that they have made numerous mistakes and failed staff on every level.