Pros
Good benefits for a non-profit: Short work week (35 hours) and additional paid days off for Jewish holidays observed each year. Very flexible work-from-home policy and strong COVID-relief support. Potential for annual bonuses. Access to LinkedIn Learning course library and Bravely, a professional coaching service. Incredible staff: At all levels of the organization, ADL hires very smart, highly competent, and passionate people. Everyone works hard, is driven by the mission, and contributes to a sense of pride in the work. Colleagues are very friendly to and supportive of each other and the bottom-up work culture is good. The best part of working for ADL is the colleagues I've built close bonds with.
Cons
Toxic as f***, and very high burn-out/turn-over: This is a VERY toxic workplace. ADL recruits and hires based on the mission and values, then silences/punishes marginalized employees who ask why the mission and values are consistently undermined by senior leaders. The CEO and HR team frequently gaslight and intimidate employees who are asking for accountability (a professed company value) to harm they have committed against black employees and other employees of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people. Dissent of leadership's decisions is punished with intimidation, anger, the message that 'if you don't like it here, you can leave', and (in extreme cases I've witnessed) performance reviews/firing. In a capitalist country, addressing these concerns might be dismissed as asking too much of a workplace, but ADL is a civil-rights focused/anti-hate non-profit organization so the outrage over a difference between professed and enacted values is highly justified. Beyond the identity based and political toxicity, there is also a toxic culture at ADL that values and rewards working overtime, constant availability, and dropping everything as soon as someone in leadership makes an 'urgent' request. There is no advancement here for anyone who values a work-life balance. Not safe for people of color/women/LGTBQ folks: Most promotions at the level of mid-level manager and above are based on nepotism or favoritism and are contingent on that person's ability to enthusiastically follow the CEO's whims and mirror his political opinions. Mid-level to senior management is predominantly white/Jewish and mostly male. There are pervasive problems with racism, microaggressions, and bias internally. There is a clear ceiling beyond which black employees will not advance in the org, not because they won't be hired but because they are set up to fail and those who have tried value their dignity enough to leave. ADL consistently chooses a moderate political position that communicates to staff that they care very very little about women's rights, LGBTQ+ no-discrimination, and combatting anti-black racism. Again, at any old company this may be expected and justified, but ADL was literally founded to fight for these rights and most employees are sold on ADL's work in these civil rights areas during the recruiting/interview process. It's a bait and switch that causes consistent turn-over of the most qualified and passionate people out there. If you are applying for a job at ADL, don't believe ANY of the hype you here from hiring managers about the commitment to DEI. The same staff who think our top-down DEI initiatives are great are the ones who are implicitly racist, have a ton of unlearning/learning to do, and who fit into the demographic majority at the org. Every truly useful DEI initiative has been built from the ground up by staff with marginalized identities without any support from HR. Staff who want to see change are forced to create it themselves and volunteer for additional unpaid work with zero support from HR to create DEI initiative and equity programs that HR then proudly points to when staff complain of problems.