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Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)

I have been at IFM for a significant amount of time, and am shocked by the last few years. I used to be incredibly proud to work here, but now I question daily why I have stayed this long. This organization used to be so positive, really supported its workers, and just was an amazing place to work. Sadly, I dread working here each day now. 

If you are not one of the three people who get promoted repeatedly, you do not matter. People who have no clue what they are doing are in charge of those who do know what is going on, and that makes no sense. IFM likes to take their special friend employees and promote them nonstop in a short period of time despite those individuals being in no way qualified for any of their new positions. Let's just say there is a group at IFM that gets everything, while the people who actually work really hard and know what they are doing are left behind. 

When I mention working really hard, know that you will have no work/life balance whatsoever here. I hope you enjoy neglecting your significant other and any hobbies you have, because that is what will happen if you work here. The whole organization was completely overwhelmed by not having enough help, yet still chose to let go of people because of budget reasons. However, IFM then gives out bonuses a few months later. They do layoffs and tell us they are struggling, then a few months later give out bonuses because they say we had a great year, and then a month later mention how the 2025 budget is going to be difficult due to IFM not having money. That was quite the rollercoaster! IFM is financially irresponsible on so many levels! As another reviewer here mentioned, the organization will tell everyone they are poor and have no money to give to employees while dumping all their money into the head of the organization and their special group of three.

The other big problem is the human resources department has to be involved in absolutely everything that everyone does. You can't make a decision on your own without asking their permission! The micromanagement really has to stop. Trust people to do their jobs! This is not an efficient process, and it is truly insulting that highly experienced and educated individuals have to ask permission to do entry-level tasks.

Lastly, the culture here is beyond toxic. Everyone seems miserable, people are quitting constantly, those running the show publicly berate others, and the benefits have been cut over and over to the point that people are having to moonlight to get affordable benefits. This organization gives me the ick.

This place used to care about its employees, but those days are long over. They have not given merit raises in several years because they claim not to be able to afford it, then laid off numerous employees and raised the cost of benefits so high that people are just opting not to have health insurance now. (And this is a health organization!) However, if you look up online the public “Institute for Functional Medicine 990 filing,” you will see that the same person telling us all there is no money for any of us and laying off people received 50% in raises over two years. That is interesting, right? How do you cry in front of us saying we are in a terrible financial state and “we had to do what we had to do” while taking home a 50% raise for yourself?

Can we also discuss that the organization's top decision-makers are completely unqualified, driving the organization into the ground? If you like being micromanaged by a bunch of unqualified people, IFM will be the love of your life. There is zero work-life balance despite IFM promoting a stress-free environment that genuinely cares about its employees. People are quitting left and right. I am happy they can escape this nightmare, because not everyone else can!

Management, why are you not looking deeper if everyone is jumping ship? Do you still believe that everyone else is the problem? Why do you care about your employees so little?


My first year at IFM was an exceptional experience, filled with enthusiasm and promise. However, as the company expanded and underwent a restructuring process, the initial dynamism has diminished. Many employees are now managing workloads that exceed their capacity, while some colleagues are unavailable when needed. 

It has become increasingly apparent that there is a lack of budget allocation for employee raises, despite noticeable expenditures in other areas. Since the reorganization, it seems there is a disconnect among teams, leading to suboptimal collaboration and a lack of effective communication, which ultimately impacts our ability to deliver the best outcomes for our participants.

The programs being implemented often feel rushed, resulting in some teams scrambling to meet deadlines, while others may shift responsibility rather than working collectively towards solutions. It is crucial for the company to reassess its operational structures and communication channels to foster a more cohesive and productive work environment.

For me, IFM was the perfect unison of personal interests and professional goals. When I stumbled upon the open position at IFM, I was in total shock that an organization like IFM existed. From the moment I applied, I knew that I wanted to be a part of the team at IFM because of the mission and the work that IFM does. Additionally, IFM was a two day/week remote workforce which was a big sell. Now, many of our roles are indefinitely remote. In addition to the benefits, my role constantly challenges me to learn and dig deeper so I can deliver the best results to my team. Working at IFM has been nothing short of rewarding and there's not a day that goes by where I don't learn something new, whether it's about IFM or my field. 

IFM has the noble mission of transforming how healthcare is practiced through providing a selection of evidence-based alternative medicine CME to clinicians. The addition of a new layer of HR and upper management staff lead IFM to aggressively manage-out senior content contributors and sapped the strength of their programs. The management strategy seems to have become an "up and out" approach vs. retaining top contributors. All along, the marketing department had an undue influence on how the certification programs were produced leading to a steady decline in the quality of the candidates that were getting raced through the programs before they had attained real competency. For an institute that consistently advocates for improving lifestyle habits of patients, the work-life balance culture is terrible.  

I'm surprised at the negative reviews for such a small company. I'm guessing it was their first job and they had nothing to compare to. Having come from a large corporate environment this place is heaven. They do run a tight ship financially but have been fair with raises and reviews. Their health insurance for a family is ridiculously unaffordable. There is departmental infighting which can  be tedious. That said for a small company that is mostly remote workers their HR team does a fantastic job keeping team members connected. Your pay is based on HCOL Washington pay rate which is significant. I am able to shut down at quitting time and not expected to work overtime or weekends. We do have some pretty tight schedules to complete our work but it has always been reasonable. My team is great to work with. My manager is fantastic. 

I stay at IFM because I like my daily tasks, I like who I work with, and I like the overall mission of the organization. I could probably make more money working in another industry, but its hard to get excited about a product you don't believe in. The world doesn't need any more varieties of breakfast cereal, toothpaste, boutique gyms, etc. If I'm going to spend 40 hours a week building something, I want it to help humanity. 

Work-life balance
Work-life balance at Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) is poor.

Pay & benefits
Decent benefits

Job security and advancement
Many employees worried about loosing their jobs. Some do the work of 3 people while others just look busy or try to appear smart. Not much room for advancement. Constant changes in org structure and titles.

Management
Some are really good. Many not so good.

Culture
Constantly changing priorities to chase the next shiny object in the world of functional medicine, favoritism, more image than substance, constant gossip.

I've had a great time working at IFM. They create a very welcoming (remote) onboarding experience, and everyone has been kind & helpful. It's nice to work with so many smart people. 

While the work can sometimes be challenging, it's do-able and I enjoy being intellectually stimulated. The benefits cannot be beat- definitely the best benefits of anywhere I've worked.

Job Duties Included: My main task was Accounts Receivable – I transferring their online transactions to Quick Books, made sure the invoices were correct, printed them out and completed the balancing of the banking. I managed the daily bank deposits, conversed with partners regarding their accounts, filing and any other duties assigned by the CFO.

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