Unethical and Possibly Illegal Practices - Field Interviewer RTI International Employee Review

1.0
Dec 10, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Working with real people (who are not employed by RTI) in the field. Amazing people! Opportunity to interact with people in all socioeconomic groups in their own environment.

Cons

Unethical and possibly illegal practices. Told we would be working 20-25 hours per week for 2 months and then work would taper. Even with travel assignments, there wasn't 20-25 hours per week the FIRST week of the Trimester! Dangerous work...you are told to go out at night into seedy neighborhoods without an escort. Ironically, few people in these neighborhoods hold down jobs and those people could be contacted during the daylight hours which would be safer.. But RTI wants you out nights and weekends. I WANTED to work nights and weekends so that is not the issue but putting my safety at risk is an issue. Breaches in confidentiality contrary to their policies. What is written, what is said, what is expected are not consistent.....they will not provide copies of documents that you've signed. This is the worst company I have worked for in 30 years, and yes, I have worked for other research companies.

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5.0
Jun 8, 2026
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Pros

RTI has a good mission

Cons

Adaptation to sudden federal funding loss.

3.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Remote work and reasonable working hours

Cons

If you're a PhD who enjoys research and hopes to use empirical research skills at a research institute, you'll likely be disappointed as I was. Projects in my business unit were largely implementation projects that required very little creativity or data analysis. I was told by my manager that empirical-research projects are harder to come by and when those opportunities do arise, everyone wants them. Even then, project directors are very unwilling (in my experience) to let you branch out to other projects. Using any overhead time to work on your own research is also discouraged, so I ended up working on manuscripts in my personal time. And there's no funding to attend conferences either. On top of all of this, constant layoffs create an aura of uncertainty and the feeling that you're lucky to even be there even when compensation for similar roles in private sector is far better.

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