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      IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board)

      Engaged Employer

      IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) reviews

      3.8

      83% would recommend to a friend

      (198 total reviews)

      Aleks Dardeli

      100% approve of CEO

      53% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      4.0

      Culture & values

      4.0

      Diversity & inclusion

      4.0

      Career opportunities

      3.5

      Work/Life balance

      3.4

      Senior management

      3.4

      Compensation and benefits

      IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 198 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Nonprofit & NGO industry (3.5 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      198 reviews
      1.0
      Apr 30, 2018

      Avoid at all costs (toxic environment)

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Beautiful office space, accessible location, and advanced technology for a nonprofit.

      Cons

      First of all, the workload is excessive. Expect to work 10-14 hour work days without any appreciation or compensation. The amount of paperwork and administrative nonsense in every program will consume most of the day. Secondly, it is laughable that the mission of this place is that they "focus on people", the only people they focus on are the funders. They apply for almost every grant and write unrealistic proposals. When they are funded, they do not do what is best for the population they are trying to serve but rather whatever the funders demand even if programmatically, it is unfeasible and unhelpful. Your experience at this company will 100% be impacted by your supervisor. As an external candidate, there is an acute learning curve with tons of different programs that they use and with trying to learn your own job. In the Leadership practice, Managers at Director & Senior Technical Adviser levels are mostly abusive. They consistently use manipulative and coercive ways to control their staff. You will undoubtedly be micromanaged, overworked, unappreciated, lied to, scared to lose your job, and demeaned almost on a daily basis. In addition to employee abuse, some of these "managers" are constantly angry, they curse out funders in front of their staff, and they criticize their colleagues. Frankly, I wish I had never taken this job in the first place because I continue to suffer from the psychological trauma inflicted by this supervisor months later.

      avatar
      IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) Response
      8y
      While we are very concerned to read your comments about your working experience at IREX, we thank you for sharing them with us. We regret that your work experience at IREX was not a positive one. Your feedback is important to us, and you have mentioned some areas that have our attention. IREX is committed to creating and fostering a respectful work environment for all of our staff. We are in the process of putting a targeted manager training program in place to ensure our managers at multiple levels receive ongoing training to ensure consistency in the way all managers reflect and operationalize our organizational values that can be found on our website here. While you have indicated you are a former employee, we encourage you to contact our new HR Manager, Brooke Fitaye to share more information about your work experience if you wish. You can reach her at Bfitaye@IREX.org . Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and concerns.
      1.0
      Nov 21, 2022

      Garbage

      Program associate
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      I made great friends on this team. We all commiserated over how awful working with the Mandela Washington Fellowship team is.

      Cons

      Everything. Working 7 days a week for 45k is crazy. The supervisors belittle staff and literally drove away all of the employees of color. The team is servicing young african leaders and all but 2 of the managers are white. That's crazy. They even make fun of and belittle the young african leaders that visit the US. This IREX team does not deserve this contract. It's unbelievable that the State Department Bureau of Educational culture affairs (ECA) team keeps working with these people. Managers went to the IREX hr department and complained that black women on the team were threatening them. PAs are spoken to and treated like children. Supervisors have no confidence in PA skills even though the majority of them have masters. And these masters are NOT taken into consideration when discussing pay. There is no room for growth on many of the MWF subteams. You will work, and work, and work, and work until you burn out and quit. Then they'll just replace you and start the cycle all over again. I literally would sell all my essential organs before working at IREX again. If I could negative stars I would. This is not an exaggeration. Reach out to any PA from this team on linkedin.

      avatar
      IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) Response
      3y
      Dear former IREXer, We appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback on your experience working at IREX. We are glad to know that you enjoyed working with your colleagues and found friends in your coworkers. It saddens us to read that you had a negative experience working on the Mandela Washington Fellowship, a program which is very special to us. It is not an IREX expectation whatsoever that employees work 7 days a week, irrespective of the fact that employees in nonexempt positions get overtime pay in accordance with applicable federal and state/local law. We appreciate that you were available to receive our African leaders, help them understand the requirements of the fellowship program, and make them feel welcome in their new environment. The success of African leaders on the Mandela Washington Fellowship program is our pride and joy and we honor each one of them. Our PAs are smart, kind, and committed to the mission, and we value them tremendously. IREX only requires an undergraduate degree for all its PA roles. Candidates should also not be disqualified because they hold a graduate degree in lieu of some work experience. We commend the achievements of all our employees and candidates. IREX values and invests in the professional growth of its staff. This is reflected in the new performance management cycle. Each element of the cycle allows employees to receive feedback, have check-in meetings, and attend trainings to help staff with their self-assessment and manager assessment. Our managers also continue to receive trainings on how to be more supportive of their staff. Again, we thank you for the information you provided and are sorry you did not enjoy your time at IREX. All the best, The HR Team
      3.0
      Sep 15, 2018

      Average, not the best

      Program coordinator
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      - If one waits it out for two to three years and works an extreme amount, promotions are definitely possible. Once you get to a Program Officer or higher, the benefits are better. - Insurance is basically free for staff who make less then 45k

      Cons

      - Does not pay well/fairly compared to other international education non-profits - Promotions and benefits like travel and professional development for lower level staff vary widely by practice department. On some teams, Program Associates get promoted and get to travel within a year. Others make staff wait for 2 years for these benefits - Strong culture of over working. Work life balance is not discouraged but you can look lazy if you don't take a few hours of overtime a week. - Many people in entry-level and internship positions already have Master's degrees but are not paid more than 40,000. - Lots of turnover in lower level positions because of above reasons

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      ReviewsIREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) reviews

      Glassdoor has 224 IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) reviews submitted anonymously by IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) is right for you.