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Chemonics International

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Chemonics International Reviews

3.7

67% would recommend to a friend

(959 total reviews)

Jamey Butcher

68% approve of CEO

39% positive business outlook

Chemonics International has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 959 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Chemonics International employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Management and consulting industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

959 reviews
1.0
11 Jun 2020

Worst Place I Have Ever Worked

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

None come to mind. I wake up from nightmares that I still work here with jaw pain and stomachaches.

Cons

Where do I even begin? This is the downright most hostile and toxic workplace I've worked in, ever. If you are reading this, don't look away, HR floods this place with positive reviews but the low ones are telling the truth. While I worked there I was bullied, gaslighted, and so stressed I had to start seeking therapy. If upper management decides they like you, then you're set. If not, which forever reason, I was not, they will make your life miserable until you quit or are let go. You cannot trust anyone here to tell you the truth, that is if anyone even talks to each other in your region. The office does not encourage friendly co-mingling and will make mention of work/life balance, while assigning you so much work you simply cannot leave before 7:30. Working there, as many of my colleagues have mentioned, is like being in an abusive relationship. They will overwork you, ignore your concerns (if you're brave enough to raise them), and gaslight you into thinking that you are the problem. They try and sweeten the deal with travel opportunities but with COVID-19, I would doubt that being their "get out of jail free" card. It's a super homogenous culture of white 20 somethings all competing for what exactly, I'm not sure. Despite working in countries across the world, the staff is overwhelmingly white, myself included. The few BIPOC who are hired are stuck at lower management at best, or a support division. The "important" roles are all white men, maybe a few women who only help uphold the oppressive and toxic work environment. You will be expected to work nights and weekends and refusal to do so or have any form of work/life balance will end up in you being actively blockaded from opportunities for growth. You will be laughed at for going on vacation or utilizing your vacation time when sick. I actively had people tell me that I went out of office too much because I took one week long vacation. You will be micro-managed within an inch of your life here, and expected to take it and be grateful to work here. There are much better and more profitable companies to work at in international development, and Chemonics is a sinking ship. They will pay you more and respect your personal growth and development. Do not work here unless you'd like to try and find an available therapist in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

1.0
15 Feb 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Chemonics offers quick advancement opportunities for those willing to work very hard to climb. Their kudos culture is also very encouraging. Peers, supervisees, and supervisors highlight your accomplishments and publicly compliment your work. Their growing D&I agenda offers hope for a more welcoming space for POCs Their quality management system provides clear work instructions and template for various tasks, including client-facing communications.

Cons

Chemonics' business model is built on exploiting employees, the majority of whom are under 35 on the project management side. Timesheets do not reflect the real hours employees must put into their regular tasks; it's even worse when working on proposal development, a requirement for all Chemonics employees. If timesheets truly reflected the time worked, the government would have shut Chemonics down long ago. They rest on their 100% employee-owned structure to create shared responsibility for company development outcomes without equally distributing the benefits. Indirect rates are high, yet the salaries do not reflect employee workload or indirect costs billed to USAID. Their recent salary review is a sham that has reduced the number of yearly opportunities for an increase from two to one. That supposed review was supposed to compare and shore up salaries to market rates while ensuring pay equity across the company. Instead, the 'data' collected was used to create salary floors and caps well under market rate and certainly not proportional to the workload assigned to each employee. The drive for excellence comes at the expense of employees' mental and physical health. PMU managers bear the brunt of the workload and responsibility as they are simultaneously expected to manage up and down, develop proposals, and deepen technical or corporate involvement. Their new business development staffing is weak considering their strategy of bidding on everything. In short, they will squeeze all they can out of you and pay as little as possible. It's a sweatshop that pretends to be a success-driven employee-owned company.

3.0
16 Feb 2024

Are bots submitting these 5 star reviews?

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

People do care and are very smart.

Cons

I am mystified to see these 5 star reviews -- to the point where I question if they are planted in an effort for Chemonics to battle its recent retention and hiring challenges. The results of the employee survey from last month underscore serious management and resourcing challenges in the corporate office, uncompetitive salaries in the corporate office, and lack of understanding at the executive level in what programs and their support teams need - there are investments in "flashy" technologies and initiatives while implementation and technical advisory teams are running on fumes. People remain passionate but Chemonics is not adapting from its culture of assuming it can grind its employees to the bone in 12-16 hour days, falling behind its competitors in flexibility, work life balance, and pay.

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Glassdoor has 1,131 Chemonics International reviews submitted anonymously by Chemonics International employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Chemonics International is right for you.