Pros
It is challenging to come up with pros for working at HIAS, especially in light of them having laid off close to 200 staff (not including international offices) in less than a year of 5 rounds layoffs. At least the last round wasn’t due to financial mismanagement like the previous 4rounds, you can thank the current administration for that. The positives are there is a fair amount of time off, and if you manage to survive to a certain number of years it increases in accrual rate. 3PM closings on Fridays, but with less and less staff now I can imagine how people are working overtime. A fair amount of Jewish holidays off, and you do not have to be Jewish to get them. And for the most part, even if you are near an office, its remote. It is hard though because the people who were good and decent, most of them are gone.
Cons
In no particular order Staff communicated to leadership in meetings, in writing, in person, in an open letter in 2022 and another 2024, surveys- you name it- that HIAS does not value, respect, fairly compensate, provide enough support, the work culture is radioactive and they never actually listen to its staff. It is the kind of place where decisions are made by the same closet cabal of individuals and it just never changes. They tell you that voices are included from all over the organization when they are ‘making changes’, and yet you would be hard pressed to find anybody outside of leadership who actually participated. Staff feel stifled. Frustrated. And that was before layoffs even started. So many promises, so little follow through. Not once did they ever release results of the yearly staff surveys, even though they said they would. Place a bet on draft kings for their release date. As of right now in 2025, there is a freeze on promotions, raises, professional development, travel and really getting any type of resources. Not that you were probably going to get any of those during the high roller years. The levels and grading are kept secret. There is no transparency. You best believe that even though they say they have levels to keep things equal, its exception city around there. Favoritism. Back channels. Professional growth is harder to come. I suggest looking for pots of gold at the end of rainbows instead. Good luck getting a promotion. It really comes down to the manager you have there. What their level of power is, who likes them, how much they like you. Favoritism has a chokehold on how who gets to speak, who is actually listened to, and if you will get any type of increase or promotion. A not funny joke, because information is hoarded as a means of power, that the HIAS Radio is the best form of communication. Consider teams messages from people your tin can and a string to find out what is happening. Reviews haven’t been done in a while, but don’t let that fool you. There are no 365 reviews. In fact, your bosses’ boss probably won’t even check on you to make sure you are okay. There is no accountability for toxic managers and the culture is rough. Go to HR. Submit a complaint. Tell you supervisor. It won’t matter. Apathy? Willful blindness? Incompetence? Straight up not caring? Does it really matter when all roads lead to terrible? Dread? Anger? Frustration? Sign up for kickboxing to work out the rage that will build up in you each and every day. Or Xanax. Maybe both. Talk about an organization that makes decisions that make no sense. Since 2018 they had something like 2-3 restructures of executive leadership and divisions, as well as paying big bucks for strategic reviews to consultants. And nothing changed. Or they rolled back the changes the last strategic consultant said to do. You know what else doesn’t make sense? HIAS had some serious financial issues in 2024, resulting in 4 rounds of layoffs. Those in charge making the decisions (or not in some cases) are still there employed. High up too. Good staff paid the consequences for those decisions. Imagine that. You failed spectacularly at your job, which was to see to the financial and staff health, and yet you kept your job. You ever think to yourself, it is so easy to get right and yet they get it wrong every time? Or worse, a place whose values include justice, welcoming, empathy can’t be found anywhere. Except on the website.