Equal Justice Works Reviews

There's a lot I could say, but the takeaway really is don't work here if you can at all avoid it. The work the fellows do is amazing but the organization is dysfunctional, senior leadership's top priority is maintaining their own power, and fellows are not prioritized. Take these reviews to heart and, if you don't believe them, connect with others at the org./former employees (through LinkedIn or other networks) before considering a job here. A few highlights - during a staff forum an employee asked about the salary floor for employees and noted other orgs. had recently increased their salary floors. The response from someone who makes more than $200,000/year was "We all wish we could make more money. I mean, I wish I made $500,000 a year." During the same meeting, senior management said that staff compensation is not purely monetary - that staff should consider the "good work" we do as part of our compensation package. This attitude towards staff is not an anomaly and reflects how senior management uses the good work of fellows to exploit their staff. If you work here, you will see supremely qualified staff - people who have spent years at the organization, put in long hours, and done good work - be bullied, forced out, and passed over for overdue promotions. You'll also see people promoted overnight with no process. There is an in-group and an out-group, and if you’re in the out-group (and almost everyone is) it will be almost impossible for you to have opportunities to advance, get a raise, or be promoted. In fact, during the pandemic when staff salaries were frozen, a number of senior-level employees were promoted overnight and many received 30-40k raises as a result. Additionally, the ED's salary increased substantially during this time. It’s telling that senior management could find the funds for these promotions but not for a small cost-of-living increase for other staff. Depending on your boss, if you work here you might also expect to work 80+ hour weeks, pull all-nighters, and be blamed for the mistakes of your superiors because they, in turn, are terrified of being blamed by senior leadership. If you work here, you will also see leadership pay lip service to diversity, equity, and inclusion while also shutting down any constructive feedback about how the organization operates and engages with fellows and donors. In fact, it's not uncommon for people who voice criticism in meetings to be reprimanded afterward by their supervisors. By doing so, the organization shows they are extremely fragile and unwilling or unable to self-reflect, which is a crucial starting point on any diversity, equity, and inclusion journey.