Conservation International Reviews

Too many Sr. Directors have been there for a very long time with little to no management training. Your boss will haunt your work and question your every move. Which seems odd because if they were busy doing their own work they wouldn't have the time to focus on yours at such a high capacity. Low level employees gather to discuss the horrendous behavioral trends from their bosses just to get through the day. Folks can harass and say things to you that are not appropriate in a normal workplace. HR is a joke and will only take the managers side of the story or act as though you have no idea what you are talking about. The issues are deeply rooted. You can't go to your bosses boss because he/she will just tell your boss. There is absolutely no confidentiality. Someone knows your pay, if you and your boss had an issue, etc. I was spot on a situation where my boss went to HR about me without me knowing and I had a gut feeling about it and later found out it was true. I couldn't defend myself at that point. The accusations were false and I felt that my integrity was challenged when I had never given anyone a reason to do so. I went to work everyday on time sometimes earlier and later than I should've and was still questioned. You will be led to believe you are working at the best place ever by repetitive subliminal communications between you and your boss as well as other senior staff that have all been brainwashed. Most folks that have been there way too long do not understand the "outside" working world where people are not robots and are human and can make mistakes. You feel tiny in a world of Directors, VPs, SVPs, EVPs and Chiefs of....made up titles on top of titles. Everyone is looking for new jobs constantly because your own boss doesn't identify with your credentials or even pay attention to your previous work experience. Its like the knowledge that you have is washed out because the CI way is the only way. The review process is a joke that ties no accountability to your direct report if you did a poor job, but if you did well they will get your credit and you get a small percentage "cost of living" pay upgrade even if you worked your butt off. Each year your workload gets bigger and bigger and if you accomplish them all and do exceptional work they will find that "one time" you did something not to their standards and magnify that during your entire review just to make a credible argument for not giving you a significant raise. Nothing will be taken into consideration, like if maybe your boss was absent most of the time on travel or you had little to no guidance on a specific project....nothing. Oh! then that's where HR comes in handy and they can just say this is what HR thinks you deserve don't shoot the messenger bs. The best way to survive here is to put up and shut up around those vultures. Its a twisted work version of the hunger games in that place. You fight a battle constantly and no longer have a voice, you are no longer a human being and it will take a long time to get over the brainwashed antics, the harassment and the judgement and finally believe in yourself again.

Lots of talented people come in the org only to find absolute disappointment. Upper management is a joke with no skills to guide and direct work or people. The org spends enormous amount of money on efforts and activities that have nothing to do with conservation.