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United Nations

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United Nations reviews

4.0

77% would recommend to a friend

(2,241 total reviews)

António Guterres

74% approve of CEO

57% positive business outlook

United Nations has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,241 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The United Nations employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Regierung & öffentliche Verwaltung industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
1.0
Aug 29, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- salary - lack of stress - most of the times no need to do overtime

Cons

If you are there for any other reason than the ones mentioned in pros, you better search for something else. - SLOW PROCCESES: everything is extremely slow, getting a reply by email after 1 week is perfectly acceptable - 'YES SIR' ATTITUDE: people have in general a 'yes sir' attitude, will never ask why, will never want to improve anything, everyone is there for money and prestige and that is enough - ONLY LOW PROFILE ACCEPTED: if you want to change things you will be seen as the black sheep and soon you will realize that you either comply or leave, there is a monster of organization with people with no perspective - EXTREMELY BAD MANAGEMENT: management is interested only in appearances, in keeping relations with more important people, they will never care about the ones with lower levels - HIERARCHIES: the level, 'grade' thing is influencing everything: if you have a lower grade is not even acceptable to approach someone with a higher grade - BUREAUCRACY: in everything. in order to request access to a database you need to fill in a form, print it, sign it by hand and scan it again. everything is on paper. where is the sustainability the UN is talking about? - LACK OF FLEXIBILITY: very fixed schedule from 8 to 16:30, with fixed breaks at 10am and 13pm, no possibility to work from home, no possibility for flexible working hours. if you are late at work you must have a very good reason and to send an official email about that, otherwise it counts as half of day off. worst thing is that most people are ok with anything, and will not complain about anything, just to keep their jobs because it is a very well paid job for Valencia. there have been some employees asking for flexibility and management ignored all. however if you need to work extra hours to synchronize with New York for example that is fine and perfectly acceptable and will not count as overtime. - LACK OF TRANSPORTATION TO WORK: the base in Valencia is outside of the city. you can only get there by car. if you don't have a car you are in trouble. the only option is carpooling with other colleagues (if you are lucky enough to find people willing to take you to work on a regular basis). there have been several requests for a shuttle bus from employees and all of them ignored by management. again, where is the sustainability UN talks about if each of us goes to work in their own car? - YOU NEED TO DO MONKEY WORK: work is a joke and most of the tasks are invented just to spend budgets. people are sent to missions to Somalia just because the mission has money to spend and they do nothing there. they were even informed they are going for 2 weeks and once there were told that actually they need to stay 6 weeks. if you say no to this kind of things you have to perspective to progress in the hierarchy. that is how the managers are how they are. as a developer you don't get the necessary tools to do your job properly. you are encouraged to find workarounds rather than improving anything. there is a big non sense separation of duties because of political reasons. - TRAINING BUDGET NOT RESPECTED: every employee has access to a 1000 euros / year training budget. however, it takes more than 1 year(!) from the moment you request the training to the moment you get the vouchers for it, so basically you lose the budget for the previous year and it accounts for the budget of the new year And the worst is that no one does anything about all these, because it is a well-paid, prestigious job.

1.0
Sep 24, 2018

Do not do it

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- salary...sort of -you get to say you work at the UN and there are some people who are impressed (though that is even starting to diminish

Cons

- really crazy colleagues and managers who have zero accountability -stagnation... it takes forever to get the most basic things done - lack of impact...you are not helping anyone and actually may be contributing to the problem

2.0
Jan 15, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Got to meet people from around the world that I ordinarily wouldn't have taken the time to do otherwise. -Good name for the resume.

Cons

-Depending on the entity you work for, you will face staffing and budget constraints. I worked for an entity that was severely understaffed. Made work at times feel overwhelming. -Consultants brought in for projects and positions often know more than the people they are directed by. This is a huge problem and shouldn't be the case. -Interns and consultants are the punching bags of the UN. In the former's case, they are unpaid, they receive no stipends, they often work longer than normal hours and their internships have no value when it comes to employment within the UN system. -Underpaid compared to the private sector. -If you have a grievance, you have to ultimately decide if its worth it to pursue. You will face retaliation and threats of blackballing from the UN system if you go through with it. I still have mine in writing from when I was dealing with a particular issue. I went through with it and have in fact been exiled from the system. I can't even get a reference from my former supervisors. -Cronyism, nepotism and corruption are widespread and visible. Member states have people employed as favors. These people employed do nothing all day and are the first people to leave when the day is done. -It doesn't pay to be an American at the U.N. Discrimination is rampant especially in hiring. You won't encounter many people working at HQ from the States. I was told by supervisor that an American hire is rare and I was one of the few lucky ones. -If you are an American, get yourself a good accountant at tax time. Unlike other member states, when you hold American citizenship at the UN, you are responsible for paying back taxes. If you have dual citizenship elsewhere, file your information under that nationality so that you get the full spending power of your paycheck.

Viewing 49 - 51 of 2,241 Reviews

Glassdoor has 3,955 United Nations reviews submitted anonymously by United Nations employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if United Nations is right for you.