some great colleagues but opaque and highly variable management - Anonymous employee Oxfam Employee Review

3.0
Jan 19, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

some really great people who really do believe in what they do and really want to make a better world good internal staff union attempts to improve work/life balance

Cons

extremely variable managers: might be super supportive if they like you but otherwise range from indifferent to highly toxic and unpredictable - hired for seniority rather than management ability. Leads to difficulty in many teams around alignment and performance opaque decision-making (again, variable) and culture of patronage/favouritism - unless you have a powerful friend willing to hand you opportunities, little room for meaningful growth and certainly no predictability of opportunities or development, low to no investment in growing people's careers internally (unless they're the favoured of someone higher up)

Explore other reviews about Oxfam

5.0
Feb 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great people and culture in the space.

Cons

Not as many people in the office.

2.0
Jan 24, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

working with people who really care about the work and the mission; mostly remote work

Cons

Oxfam America's senior leadership team has presided over three consecutive years of layoffs with little evidence of accountability or learning at the executive level. Despite repeated rhetoric about fairness and equity, leadership decisions consistently undermine those stated values. New initiatives are rolled out frequently, only to be quietly dropped, creating instability, confusion, and deep skepticism among staff. Directors are routinely excluded from key strategic discussions, yet are expected to deliver decisions to their teams with no meaningful context, rationale, or ability to answer questions. The CEO appears insulated from the day to day realities of the organization, reinforcing a growing disconnect between leadership and staff. As a result, employees are chronically overworked, morale continues to erode, and trust in senior leadership has been significantly damaged by unmet commitments and constantly shifting priorities.

2
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All