Disappointing at bachelors level - Anonymous employee RTI International Employee Review

2.0
Oct 24, 2012
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Get to work with some legitimately smart people. Working remotely is a possibility. Starting salary is ok for this type of position. Might be a good experience for certain graduate school fields.

Cons

No opportunity for career advancement for bachelors level employees. It is a total degree-tocracy. PhD and masters employees will spend no time attempting to mentor or develop bachelors workers. This is due to the fact that all time worked must be charged to a project or overhead account. Managers can be particularly parsimonious with this money. Pay raises are small, and non-existent in some cases. Employees are expected to be driven by love of research, not the possibility of any financial reward. Large amount of work is done over the phone and email with rare opportunities to interact with other employees in person. This created numerous communication and morale problems. Revenue is almost entirely from the federal government. Business is dependent on the fiscal whims of Congress. Bachelors employees are often assigned more menial and time intensive tasks because they are cheaper. Actual research opportunities can be varied.

Explore other reviews about RTI International

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

RTI has a good mission

Cons

Adaptation to sudden federal funding loss.

3.0
Jul 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Colleagues were usually respectful, hardworking, and competent. Pre-Covid, the RTP campus was a vibrant and collaborative working environment. Some of the (mostly Federal) contracts provided for interesting research and work.

Cons

Perhaps put too many eggs in USAID contract and Federal social sciences baskets. Org's strength used to be hard sciences. RTI's strength was its organizational culture which was severely undermined by the decision to allow almost anyone to work remotely Upper management bends too much to a vocal and political few, helping to sour an excellent working environment. Many faithful and valuable employees now distrust senior management.

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