Human Rights Campaign Reviews

Where to even begin? I worked as both an intern and full-time employee. As an intern, I was treated wonderfully. I remember junior level staff telling me about how miserable they were at the time, but didn't believe them or reasoned that it must have just been specific to their department. Nope. There is literally an office culture that encourages misery, overworking, low pay - you name it. It's disappointing as there is so much potential, but the programmatic work appears to be valued far above their employees. I quickly realized my work and time weren't valued. I was told by my boss that because he only spent a short amount of time with his family each day, I should never expect anything different for myself. In other words, work-life balance is nonexistent. Fair enough for DC, I suppose, but being told in such a way seemed unnecessarily rude. His personal motto was "save your own self." (He used a different word than "self," but you get the point). And boy, did HRC live up to this motto. There was so much interdepartmental fighting that it became incredibly difficult to get work done (coupled with screaming matches between senior staff in the hallways). Every department was there to "save their own self" and often times flat out refused to work with one another. This made everyone's jobs far more difficult and time consuming than they needed to be. If one department had an issue with the upper level management in another, they'd take it out on junior staff. For instance, I was once told by a senior member of the legal department that "their eight year old child could do a better job" at my position than I could. When my boss asked for an apology, the employee refused. The high turn over rate across the board leaves massive gaps in training. For instance, I was never onboarded, given no materials from my predecessor, and didn't even have an official boss for the first month of my employment. I was left scrambling to fill in the gaps of my role while the entire department was in flux. Who knows whether HR ever learns about what goes on. I was strongly discouraged from conducting an exit interview, something I still regret. To top it all off - HRC, having "learned" from their missteps with certain members of the LGBT community in the past, is very conscious of putting forward a good image. This is sometimes to the detriment of their own staff. It's no fault of the employees themselves, but management chooses to sideline some staff members in order to put their "best face" out into the media. This was a complaint I heard time and time again from employees who had worked diligently only to feel they were sidelined at the end of the day. Fortunately, I've had the pleasure to work at other places in DC since my time at HRC, and have since learned that not everyone treats their staff this way. It's so unfortunate that there is such a negative culture at this organization, as they really do good work. Some staff are truly great, but get lost in the shuffle of a group that cares far more about good PR than they do their own employees. It's a shame and so disappointing when you truly do have some staff that care deeply about the work and cause.

I strongly encourage any person interested in working at the Human Rights Campaign to stay away. I would not touch this nonprofit with a ten foot pole. HRC operates as a corporation with problematic, unprofessional, sexist, slightly racist queer and allies. Many mid level to senior folks are disrespectful, lack boundaries, and are incompetent. The high turnover and low pay should be a red flag alone. Not to mention the staff who have been “pushed out” or made to feel unwelcome for voicing support of Palestine. The zionism is rampant in this organization. Disabled, trans and many BIPIC junior staff are forced to keep silent. Large nonprofits are not the answer to “queer liberation and equality”. Especially HRC. The corporate sponsors include Northrop Grumman & Raytheon… If you are a white rich skinny gay man willing to be a sell out then HRC is the org for you.