Honest Opinion - Anonymous employee Milken Institute Employee Review

3.0
Aug 13, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Prime location, great work/life balance, friendly staff (most of them), overall stress free environment, exposure to high profile political and industry leaders and complimentary admission to attend annual Global Conference.

Cons

Very minimal opportunities for growth, favoritism amongst select departments and people, HUGE disparity in pay, no solid HR person, cheap (but only with employees!) ZERO transparency. Upper management is completely detached and clueless. They really could not care less about the regular employees. Too cheap to even go all out and put together a really nice holiday party for staff...it is held onsite and catered by in house kitchen. Great place to work if you're looking to intern, your first real job or you are a retiree, not if you are trying to get ahead in your career/financially. No matter how well you perform year after year they will feed you the same tired line, they are a non-profit and cannot afford to pay you more than a couple dollars more. Meanwhile upper managements salaries are grossly inflated and they get hefty bonuses as well. What it is they do to justify all of this, who knows? They are not finding a cure for cancer or saving abused children. Irresponsible and ridiculous amount of spending on business travel (which then turns into a personal vacation!), dinners and courting potential donors. This could go towards something more meaningful such as improving employee morale, retention and a more sensible pay scale. Needless to say, turnover here is extremely high. The ones that are still there really don't want to be, but it's a safe job. I am SO glad I realized my self-worth and took my biggest and most important investment (ME) elsewhere. I am MUCH happier and an even better employee now.

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5.0
Apr 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Great people and impactful work.

Cons

No cons I can think of.

1.0
May 21, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They pay well and thus are able to hire well qualified and capable people.

Cons

I worked with MCAAD, but my experience there and my perception of the Milken Institute were aligned. This was the worst career decision I have ever made and I truly regret it. Senior leadership doesn't listen or care about others' opinions. We were often told to be quiet in meetings, and to sit and let our bosses talk. Zero autonomy. Micromanaged to an extreme. Frequent layoffs. Terrible communication between departments. HR is shockingly awful and will not respond to emails, and often makes errors on your benefit allocations. Your personal time is not respected. I waited a while to write this review so it wouldn't sound too bitter, but I strongly recommend avoiding this org. Unfortunately, the mission and their public-facing reputation doesn't align with the reality of working there.

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