Does United Nations pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, United Nations employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.9 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at United Nations. This rating has decreased by 2% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at United Nations?

77% of United Nations employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated United Nations 3.9 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.0 for culture and values and 3.5 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at United Nations?

Intern (398) , Consultant (142) , Internship (130) , Administrative Assistant (59) , Project Manager (46) , Research Assistant (30) , Political Affairs Officer (24) , Officer (23) , Political Affairs Intern (19) , Security Officer (18) , Team Assistant (18) , Analyst (16) , Director (16) , Economic Affairs Officer (16) , Finance Assistant (15)

What are the pros of working at United Nations according to real employee reviews?

"stable happy versatile good benefit" ((in 190 reviews)); "The people are great and passionate about what they do" ((in 162 reviews)); "Great for CV and great colleagues" ((in 137 reviews)); "Good salary and experience overall" ((in 133 reviews)); "Good work environment for beginners" ((in 87 reviews))

What are the cons of working at United Nations according to real employee reviews?

"The internship is unpaid and probably with rooms of improvement regarding the plan for career guidance" ((in 108 reviews)); "Management is poor" ((in 51 reviews)); "bad managers" ((in 25 reviews)); "No job security at all" ((in 24 reviews)); "Long hours and a lot of paper work" ((in 23 reviews))

What are employees saying about United Nations layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about United Nations layoffs and their outlook for job security at United Nations in 2026.

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United Nations

United Nations reviews

4.0

77% would recommend to a friend

(2,244 total reviews)

António Guterres

75% approve of CEO

57% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.2

Diversity & inclusion

4.0

Culture & values

3.9

Work/Life balance

3.9

Compensation and benefits

3.6

Senior management

3.5

Career opportunities

United Nations has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,244 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).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

2K reviews

3.0

Oct 28, 2015

Wonderful and Awful Place to Work

Administrative assistant

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Exciting things happening around you all the time. Chances to travel. Great multicultural environment. Strong sense of community in some offices.

Cons

Terrible bureaucracy. Narrow-minded management. Creativity and innovations rarely encouraged. No upward mobility. Too difficult to fire people who contribute nothing.

2.0

Jul 8, 2015

An interesting place to work but don't stay there

Economic affairs officer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great pay, great job security, very good vacation time. A lot of pros and cons depend on where you are, as the UN is a vast and diverse place. There is often the opportunity to travel, meet new people and learn new things. Depending on your role or where you are, you might even have the opportunity to do good, meaningful work.

Cons

From middle- to upper management selections are all political (usually unofficially so) and don't have much to do with qualifications. Besides limiting opportunities to advancement, this also means that your boss will often be much less intelligent and qualified than you are. People care much more about protecting their position and image than about doing quality work or about serving Member States. One aspect of this is that people just hire their friends as consultants, and consultants in the UN are usually not very qualified, in my experience. Working here for a few years is fine but after that, either become a drone or burnt out.

3.0

Jul 7, 2015

UNESCAP Bangkok

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Very good work-life balance and environment, CSR (obviously). Get to meet plenty of people from various origins, interesting backgrounds and networking.

Cons

Not challenging as a young employee. Not result oriented. Administrative hassle. Few career opportunities. Overall sensation of being stuck.

Viewing 91 - 93 of 2,244 Reviews

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