Pros
Decent location and parking benefits, lax dress code (varying degrees of enforcement depending on how well liked you are). Great healthcare benefits, and unlimited vacation days. Niceish office with a bomb coffee machine. Plenty of in-house events usually means free food, and plenty of diamonds in the rough people-wise, although those people probably won’t work there for long.
Cons
Where to begin…IHS is a cool place, ostensibly. It has an honorable mission, it’s programs and summer seminars are well attended, and people have a pretty positive opinion of them externally. However, working there is a completely different story. The office environment is a nightmare. There’s a certain type of person who does well there, so if you’re that person you’ll love it. The worst definitely get on top. Competent people need not apply. Thus, middle and upper management is a bust. They don’t have a clue what’s going on, and I was never sure what half of them did all day. They absolutely don’t know how to organize or lead, and it’s very clear they’re making it up as they go with little concern for how it affects their employees. A lot of middle managers are untouchable no matter how blatantly useless they are. There is absolutely a hierarchy. If you’re at the assistant level, expect to be treated poorly while doing most of the work. The culture is pretty much on par with high school – it’s cliquey, gossipy, and sexist. You’ll be critiqued on yourself as a person far more than on your work. Management took accountability for nothing, and lower level employees are often blamed for mistakes. Standards are applied arbitrarily, as are promotions. Pay is abysmal, even for non-profit standards. They will absolutely low-ball you, so be careful before accepting an offer. Given its many deep-seeded issues, IHS has very high turnover. You’ll either get pushed out or quit, good luck making it more than a year. They fire people like it’s their job, and sometimes they’ll fire entire teams at once (no warning). I’ve lost track of how many friends of mine have left or been fired. I made an effort, I wanted to make it work. I was very vocal about the issues I encountered, but not only did bringing it up not help, it worked against me. If you see a problem, keep your mouth shut because vocalizing your concerns will blacklist you. Once you leave IHS you'll basically have to go through recovery, and many former employees joke about being in a post-IHS support group. Bottom line is I deserved better and so do you.