CIMMYT reviews

lack of humanity and ethics in most of the management circles, very poor metrics to measure job achievements, very bureaucratic. At all costs, stay away from the Sustainable Itensification Program (SIP) as it is an extremely unhealthy workplace, managed ineffectively and deeply unprofessional.

The organizational structure is terrible -- I happened to belong to one (of five) thematic programs, but worked on a project that was led by a different program. Additionally, I worked on the other side of the world from the HQ (where my boss was) in Mexico. These two factors meant that he didn't have a clue as to what I did on a day-to-day basis, and the key people in the other program didn't feel enough responsibility for me to make sure my strong value to the project was known by my boss. As a consequence I was not promoted. CIMMYT gives lip service to work-life balance -- if you don't work 55-60 hours/week, you will not get ahead. In addition, many of the employees are self-centered and only care about publications -- and will behave badly in pursuit of that objective.