employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Harvard University

Is this your company?

Tough culture for one of the finest higher ed institutions - Anonymous employee Harvard University Employee Review

2.0
Jun 3, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Working with my clients and colleagues was a very enjoyable experience, most of the time. There are definitely people here who like to throw around titles to get what they want, but I would say in the entry level and mid-management positions the people are great.

Cons

The leadership at the Law School supports a culture in which managers are right regardless of the situation. This makes it difficult for those of us who are great at what we do, but have a manager who is in the leadership position because of time served, but not necessarily ability to manage and lead. My manager seems to be a good person, but is a terrible manager. He does not listen to others when he does not agree with them, he is afraid to make tough decisions, and he plays favorites. From what I hear from my colleagues, in other departments, they have managers who are the same, but even when going to HR for support, you are basically told to deal with it. In addition to the above, there are plenty of people who are just not good at their jobs, but they have been here forever and no one makes them do what they need to so they can have the necessary skills to carry out their roles. People like this are protected, while high-performers are forced to pick up the slack until they eventually tire of doing everyone else's job and leave.

Explore other reviews about Harvard University

5.0
Jun 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A PhD is always very advisor/PI dependent, but I had a great experience with room to learn, grow, and explore interesting research questions. As with any PhD program you’ll work pretty hard for relatively lower pay and perhaps less directly applicable industry career trajectory at the end, but if you find good people to tackle the journey with and get to work on interesting problems I personally think the journey is worthwhile!

Cons

Less of a program wide cohort in my particular engineering field. Some funding challenges with the govt last year but seem mostly back now, apart from the recent administration issues funding wasn’t generally a challenge

5.0
Jun 23, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Unparalleled academic environment, virtually unlimited resources

Cons

Competitive on many fronts, research somewhat segregated by department

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All