Top-of-Class, But Use Linkedin Before Joining - Anonymous employee IHME Employee Review

2.0
9 Sept 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Those who worked more closely with Christopher Murray will know that he is a brilliant scientist who cares deeply about the technical details of the science itself, the broader role it plays in global health governance, and IHME as a whole. He's 25+ years of experience managing large teams to accomplish things that everyone around him has always said was impossible. It's an inspiring place that has a Google-like feel to it - the work is constantly in the news, the research is actively used in decision-making (a rarity in academia generally), and people like Michelle Obama to Paul Romer drop in to give talks. It's a great place to work if you care about making a contribution to global health. The building itself is great, there is strong camaraderie among researchers, data analysts, and project officers. The salary and benefits are pretty good for non-profit world ($90k for a middle manager with a 5% match in your 401K in a non-profit is fairly uncommon in global health outside the UN system).

Cons

Those who work closely with Chris also know that the leadership team around him is exceptionally weak. Chris is the only person that can be the CEO of IHME, but you can see that the fact he has to constantly step into everyone's work to make sure even the most minimum thresholds for quality are met reflects that his entire leadership team ought to be either trained or replaced. Senior management's role is to provide a set of principles that allow people to work independently towards a common goal. IHME has few guiding principles and those principles that do exist is 1) don't challenge authority and 2) defer to a professor. The culture (norms on how to treat one another) are abysmal. Chris is an economist, and for those who have worked with economists before know they tend to be ruthless, assume all stakeholders to be rational and self-interested, and are highly focused on behavioral patterns to understand people's goals. He does have high expectations and poor methods of communicating those expectations, but while he is improving, the rest of his leadership team is trying to adopt his style from 2 years ago. Furthermore, it's the manager's role to extract the message from sharp words and translate it into productive work streams and that simply does not happen. There are managers here who routinely throw their teams under the bus. Since management doesn't operate independently (they recently made moves to make this more concrete) and guidance on non-scientific operations are deferred to scientists, the entire infrastructure of this place is shaky. There is no project management, no IT strategy, no advancement in work processes, no cultural, no training, etc. HR is filled with well-meaning people who don't understand their roles (HR doesn't just hire people), are usually out of the loop of what is going on, and are more scared of leadership than the rest of the staff. Worse, there is no way of communicating that these things can be changed. In short, operations are paralyzed and outdated.

avatar
IHME Response
6y
Thank you for your thoughtful input. We are indeed inspired to produce reliable work for decision-makers throughout the world. We are fortunate to work with high-profile individuals who can further our work in order to improve the health of the world’s population by providing the best information on population health. Depending on when you left IHME, you may not have had a chance to become acquainted with our 10 professional principles and competencies that date back to 2014. They include striving for excellence (as you noted), working as a team, learning constantly, and thoughtfully planning and setting priorities, among others. Each of our management staff and employees are in a different place on their journey to a full realization of these principles. This is why we take seriously our annual performance review process and quarterly goal check-ins. In addition, we look to our director, Dr. Christopher Murray, for his technical expertise, global knowledge, and leadership skills. We also listen carefully to our esteemed Board of Directors, our Scientific Advisory Group, and to our 25-member Senior Management Team that meets weekly. All members of the Senior Management Team conduct weekly office hours during which any member of staff can discuss successes, challenges, and opportunities. An important staff initiative is the creation of a Feedback and Improvement Group. Any staff member is welcome to join this group, which routinely presents ideas for analytical and operational improvement to our Senior Management Team. You may recall that through our institutional learning management system we offer dozens of classes related to hard and soft skills. We are proud to say that in fiscal year 2019 we offered thousands of person hours of training to our internal staff on job-specific skills and areas of knowledge, scientific methods, and evidence in global-health decision-making, and several thousand more person hours of training to external collaborators. Our thoughtfully designed online training on our hallmark study -- the Global Burden Disease, Injuries and Risk Factors – is accessed by learners daily throughout the world. IHME recently unveiled a specially designed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Campaign to ensure all are at the table, and that the voices of those at the table are heard. We trust this will lead to happier, healthier staff, and that this will in turn bring even more creative problem-solving approaches and innovation to the challenges we face as a growing institute. In addition, in 2019 we unveiled a leadership short course that focuses on communication and conflict management, change management, project management, team leadership, and fostering an inclusive environment. These measures may in turn encourage employees to lengthen their tenure at IHME, though we recognize some amount of turnover in a city as bustling as Seattle is inevitable. We have the most success in recruiting mission-minded individuals who recognize that the private sector – despite its higher salaries – is not enough to sustain those who are eager to improve the world’s population health and wellbeing. We hope our efforts will lead to a higher number of female faculty. The University of Washington, which IHME is a part of, takes sexual harassment allegations seriously. Any claim that is brought to our attention is addressed. In addition, any employee is welcome at any time to report any allegation to the UW Complaint Resolution Office: https://hr.uw.edu/policies/complaint-resolution/ As we continue to reflect on how to improve our workplace, I'd like to better understand your perspective. Please reach out to me at your convenience. kamoore@uw.edu

Explore other reviews about IHME

5.0
28 Jun 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Interesting projects. Great management. Great benefits.

Cons

So far none to add

3.0
18 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The culture was good with other coworkers

Cons

The pay couldve been alot better for seatle

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All