I worked for Public Health Institute on their huge contract to provide experts and staffing for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) called Global Health Training, Advisory, and Support Contract (GHTASC). From the start, Public Health Institute deprioritized my needs and what I was able to do in favor of quickly getting me to start. The company also had me (and other new employees who joined the company from 2023 onwards) sign an arbitration agreement which as part of the onboarding process that was mandatory to complete, but provided no additional explanation. Public Health Institute made it seem as though the arbitration agreement was required and necessary to start the job because they included it in the onboarding process.
My manager was extremely inefficient, offering "advice" on things they had knowledge of and was made to feel like I had to follow their "advice." My manager was also a bully and micromanaged due to their own incompetence.
Their salary structure was also opaque and increases did not even cover the increase in the cost of living. Salary increases also were still up to the discretion on Public Health Institute so despite rave reviews from my team at USAID, I was not given the highest increase possible. The benefits were also abysmal for a company that focuses on health.
Public Health Institute showed no regard for their employees seconded to USAID when they terminated us with no notice in January 2025. They also cut off our benefits, giving us three days to use insurance and provided no severance pay whatsoever. In comparison, many other companies that had government contracts, kept their institutional support contractors by furloughing them on so they could use their PTO and continue to receive health insurance.
This company generally had a poor reputation and lived up to it until the very end of my time with them.
