The company which proves all the bad company cliches can exist in one place. - Anonymous employee RTI International Employee Review

1.0
Jan 31, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I have to enter at least five words here otherwise I would not.

Cons

I left this company years ago and I've been very happy. Many of the staff I knew there were too afraid to leave, but ultimately it is there loss. Culture - RTI is the gold standard for grinding up staff until they have no time for family or personal life. There is no way to actually be away from work. All my vacations required I bring a laptop and work at least half days to prevent my project from falling apart. The lack of coverage is really ludicrous considering how many staff work for this company. If you decide to start a family (as we did after working at RTI for 3 years) your career is postponed. This happens whether you are successful at meeting criteria to progress or not. By having a child you are telling the company that you are no longer available 24/7, career stalled. You opportunities dry up and you become a nameless peon. Compensation is average to below average. Over achieving is the mantra at RTI but there's no financial motivation to pursue it. If you are in business development steer clear of this company because there are no bonuses or rewards for your hard work. A position with any for profit company will reward you for over-achieving.

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5.0
Jun 8, 2026
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CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

RTI has a good mission

Cons

Adaptation to sudden federal funding loss.

3.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Remote work and reasonable working hours

Cons

If you're a PhD who enjoys research and hopes to use empirical research skills at a research institute, you'll likely be disappointed as I was. Projects in my business unit were largely implementation projects that required very little creativity or data analysis. I was told by my manager that empirical-research projects are harder to come by and when those opportunities do arise, everyone wants them. Even then, project directors are very unwilling (in my experience) to let you branch out to other projects. Using any overhead time to work on your own research is also discouraged, so I ended up working on manuscripts in my personal time. And there's no funding to attend conferences either. On top of all of this, constant layoffs create an aura of uncertainty and the feeling that you're lucky to even be there even when compensation for similar roles in private sector is far better.

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