Pros
Like many of the other reviews listed here, the only positive side to IHME is the vast majority of the people: they are amazing, kind, and intelligent people who originally joined IHME with a true intent of giving back to the global health community. Unfortunately, this attitude is no longer reflected in senior management, who run this institution based on a need for ego, power, and wealth. As of 2014, the director makes over >$600K a year, director of strategy makes >$200K a year, etc (this is public information as IHME employees are state employees).
Cons
For an organization that runs on principles of innovation/knowledge sharing and prides itself for taking part in global philanthropy, its internal management is incredibly hypocritical. Unless you are a select few, IHME does very little to care for professional development, as employee turnover is incredibly high (over 10% of the workforce has quietly resigned in the past four months alone). No matter what they promise at the interview, everyone, except for senior management, is treated like a factory worker performing the same job in an assembly line. No matter if you are a PI, researcher/PBF, or Data Analyst, there is very little room for autonomy, as all the "innovation" is limited to the director. IHME's management style practically likens to that of Walmart: both organizations have a predatory managing style. They hire employees with no care in regards to how long they will stay or what skills they bring, so they view their employees as disposable and easily replaceable property. Little investment is made in IHME’s staff, as there is limited, often irrelevant training provided and no paths for professional growth. Management especially preys on recent graduates by falsely promising ample training/growth but actually overworking young employees with menial, repetitive tasks (although denied by senior management, too many people are expected to work past midnight on Friday evenings). Other cons about IHME (all stem from a lack of investment in HR and lack of foresight from senior management): - Promotions are completely arbitrary. The more recent promotions have only been offered in response to potential resignations and an increased number of resignations of longstanding employees. In a professional organization with a true investment in HR, promotions are used to recognize potential and achievement when deserved- not as an afterthought. - No matter what position you hold, which team you are on, or how long you have worked at IHME, it is not uncommon that you will be assigned to another team with no regard for your consent or professional growth, even if you have previously expressed that you are not at all interested in the team. You will also be expected to perform without sufficient training. This has happened to roughly 1/3rd of the Data Analysts here. - Deadlines are completely arbitrary at IHME, regardless of what is assured at orientation. Often times (and contrary to IHME's principles), true scientific integrity is sacrificed to placate the director's last-minute demands and childlike temper tantrums, which come too often at unacceptable times outside of work hours. There is also little consideration for anyone's personal life, and as a result, multiple employees have manifested signs of breakdown over time. - Data Analysts are either completely under-utilized or over-utilized. As a result of arbitrary deadlines set by a director with no care for management, there is no time to plan for resource allocation, so a select number of individuals are forced to produce results with little time and as quickly as possible. Data Analysts either spend workdays doing absolutely nothing, OR spend their workdays and personal time doing everything per the demands of the director. - Researchers/PBFs/DAs have very little research autonomy, as the director sets all the directions and specs for all the projects. For example, researchers with graduate-level degrees on the Global Burden of Diseases project do not have much opportunity construct their own statistical models; rather, they are told to model using a specific set of pre-defined inputs, a modeling tool called DisMod, and then told to simply remove outliers. - When one browses quickly through the IHME staff page, there is clearly a racial/gender bias towards white males at IHME holding higher, more technical positions. It is also clearly evident with the most recent PBF cohort, which is >95% white (PBF males are almost always placed on the Global Burden of Disease, which is more statistics heavy). Although these white males are genuinely intelligent people who contribute much to IHME, there are equally intelligent and hardworking individuals, either/both female and people of color, whom have been working at IHME for years and have not been recognized for their potential. Again, for an organization that works towards health equality, it fails to be equal in recognizing potential across all races and genders within its organization. - To give an idea of how small of an impact HR has on the organization, there is currently only 1.5FTE staff on HR for an organization of about 200 people, with the entire department existing as a small entity nested way under the Director of Strategy's large umbrella. One of my previous coworkers informed me that HR confessed to him that there was nothing HR could do in response to his situation, as after all, what truly mattered was that IHME was writing him a paycheck. TL;DR: If you have integrity and want to truly give back to the world, do yourself a favor and find another job where you can make a true impact under leadership that you can respect and trust. If you do not enjoy being a cognitive machine and giving up your personal life, do yourself a favor and do not work at IHME. Think critically about the kind of people you respect and want to work for- do you want to work for a narcissistic man who is the highest paid professor at the University of Washington (>$600K, more than the president of UW) while simultaneously advocating for global justice, and believes that his work is already of the same scientific significance as the Human Genome project?
