Pros
Started with good work-life balance, after 6 months that started to lessen. Still there is flexibility compared to a rigid corporate structure. Some extremely hard-working, smart and genuine people.
Cons
As you can see from many of the reviews, your experience at WRI is highly dictated by your manager. I had multiple managers overseeing my work who were at different levels within the organization. The manager who had the highest role was in charge of all decisions. Everyone was too scared to stand up against this person because they were very rude and childish (cutting people off during meetings almost daily, telling people their ideas were bad without listening, ignoring things). When I was having serious issues with my managers due to behavior that is absolutely unacceptable at any workplace, I went to HR and they ended up ruining my life, going so far as to sabotage my chances with other jobs. To show you how bad it ended up being, I spoke with a lawyer and had legal grounds to sue WRI due to HR's incompetence, but the cost and energy involved in doing so made me not go through with it. In regular instances, I am weary of HR as they are in place to protect the organization. At WRI, going to HR is career suicide. You could have video evidence of harassment and they will do everything in their power to not only bury it, but to throw you under the bus so they do not have to take accountability for their wrongdoing. The entire HR department (especially those higher up) are a disgrace to the organization. I also watched another junior employee at WRI I worked with who was smart and hard-working be treated very badly and have HR screw them over with no way to stand up for themselves. If HR continues to be like this (glad that many other reviews on Glassdoor have similarly raised awareness on how bad HR was to them) then employees NEED a way to stand up for themselves. There are no checks and balances for power in this organization. After everything, I'm resigning in a few weeks and looking forward to it! Felt hesitant to say anything bad because I like to be cordial and maintain good relationships with all workplaces I leave. But after 4 years at WRI I can say I did my best and am ready to move on.