The Toxic Work Culture at Amnesty International

If you think corporate America is bad, wait until you take a whiff at what is going on at Amnesty International. If you think that those greedy capitalist plutocrats are oppressing and abusing their workers… the better to squeeze out the last dollop of profit... take a look at what the seriously virtuous, charitable souls are doing at Amnesty International. If you think that corporations routinely abuse their employees, because they lack the charity gene that Amnesty International workers have in abundance, read the latest report about the culture of AI…. Read it and become seriously outraged.

What did they find at AI’s different offices? Why they found bullying, racism, sexism and rampant overwork. A review declared that Amnesty International possesses a “toxic work culture.”

While pursuing the worthy goal of human rights for all, Amnesty has been fostering inhumane working conditions at its headquarters.

The Daily Mail has the report:

The inquiry into working conditions at the London-based organisation was launched after the suicides of two employees within the space of six weeks last summer.

Researcher Gaetan Mootoo, 65, worked for the charity for 32 years before he took his life inside its Paris office, leaving behind a note blaming pressures he felt at work.

Rosalind McGregor, 28, killed herself at home in Surrey while interning at Amnesty's office in Geneva after developing 'acute anxiety' during five months at the charity.

While an inquiry into her death found her to be troubled over 'personal reasons', her father expressed concerns at the charity's failure to address her mental health.

Managers at Amnesty International are basically thugs. They bully, demean, humiliate their staff… Being consumed by their own virtue they do not know how to manage people or how to bring out anyone’s best. They are exercising their will to power. And they have a right to do so because their cause is oh-so just.

The Daily Mail continues:

The latest review, in which 475 members of staff were surveyed, found a strong 'us versus them' dynamic between employees and management.

It stated that 'many staff gave specific examples of experiencing or witnessing bullying by managers' during their time with the charity.

Many workers told of 'discrimination on the basis of race and gender and in which women, staff of colour, and LGBTQI [people] were targeted or treated unfairly'.

The report added: 'There were multiple reports of managers belittling staff in meetings, deliberately excluding certain staff from reporting, or making demeaning, menacing comments like, "You’re s***!" or, "You should quit! If you stay in this position, your life will be a misery."

'Others discussed this issue more generally, reporting that bullying and public humiliation were routinely used by management at all levels.

'One interviewee put it like this: "There was a real culture of bullying, right up until I left [several years ago] particularly of middle managers.

'It was well known the management team were kept very much in line, and anyone who stepped out of line was very publicly humiliated".'

More than a third of employees (39 per cent) who took part in the survey said they developed mental or physical health issues as a direct result of working at Amnesty.

As I said, if you think that the corporate world is bad, just take a look at the world of seriously virtuous charitable organizations. Like, Amnesty International.