Pros
Project management/ops experience, some travel depending on your portfolio and supervisor. But. Most. Importantly: An Excellent Crash Course On How To Navigate A Highly Dysfunctional Organization With Outdated Systems, Out Of Touch Leadership, Inept HR, And The Knowledge That Anything You Will Eventually Do After Leaving Jhpiego Will Feel Like A Cakewalk!
Cons
HR and senior leadership are the biggest con[s]-artists (see what I did there?) and they impact how the rest of the organization functions (using the term *functions* here loosely). You might notice on this Glassdoor page that a majority of the positive reviews come from the field. Take this with a grain of salt since field staff are asked to post positive reviews by HR, while HR emails HQ staff advising them not to post negative reviews because “it’s not the most effective way to have complaints addressed.” Let’s marinate on that for a sec…Jhpiego, because it sounds like you’re not too clear on what Glassdoor is for, silly! This is a platform to REVIEW companies, and this is what a bad review looks like, (purrdy, ain’t she?). Frankly, we are way past trying to get your attention regarding our grievances. As they say in the navy (maybe?) that ship has sailed. We now understand the not-so-secret truth: HR works to protect Jhpiego, not Jhpiego staff. To put all this another way, in perhaps a more 2020 “friendly” context, Jhpiego is like the Trump of the public health/non-profit world: totally incompetent, combative, disrespectful, and delusional. If you are a senior leadership sycophant and clearly inept at your job, you might get promoted. If you hunker down, actually DO your job and break your back while you do it, congrats! you will burn out super fast and likely quit (if a restructure doesn’t catch you first… Boo!!). Also, well before COVID hit, staff were already trying to socially distance themselves from the chaos that is the Baltimore office, but Jhpiego put the kibosh on that and then “restructured” everyone who was already working remotely. It took a PANDEMIC for them to come around on that policy. Likely only temporary of course. Jhpiego views and treats most of their staff (particularly more “junior” staff) as totally replaceable (which, to be fair, is technically true since the Millennial/Gen Z faucet won’t be running dry any time soon) but c’mon Jhpiego! You know better! You’re not supposed to make people FEEL replaceable, **hello office morale 101**. This treatment is pervasive, no matter how hard staff work (and should you apply, receive, and accept an offer, expect to work very long, hard hours with nothing in return for your efforts). They will milk every last drop out of you, banking on/exploiting your “passion for the mission.” You may join and think you’ll make new friends and maybe even find a mentor. Think again! Senior leadership encourages backstabbing, competition, and promotes a culture of gossip. Instead of friendship, mentorship, and a cordial workplace environment expect a healthy dose of distrust among staff and a side of zero transparency… then toss in a colleague or supervisor taking credit for your work and you got a meal! yum! Imagine all this on top of the already incredibly demanding work of international program management!? Exciting stuff.