Great place to work. - Behavioral Scientist RAND Employee Review

5.0
6 Oct 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

RAND is a non-profit organization, which is very similar to a university, without students. It has a slightly shady reputation, but that is undeserved (although it might have been deserved in the past). One gets involved in research which is cutting edge, and is surrounded by very bright very hard working individuals. There is relatively generous paid vacation time, and in something that I think indicates what RAND think of their staff, vacation pay is higher (for researchers, not sure about others) than normal pay. That is, if you take all the vacation allocated to you, your pay will be about 5% higher than if you did not take any vacation.

Cons

Coverage. Finding 100% coverage (i.e. 100% of your salary) is the thing that all researchers finds stressful, and particularly stressful to start off with, and for your first year or two at RAND.

Explore other reviews about RAND

5.0
12 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Really flexible hours, amazing project team members, engaging projects.

Cons

You will need to network and find your own projects, sometimes finding ~3-5 projects at one time to ensure full utilization.

5.0
1 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great camraderie and culture (some office locations are friendlier than others!), interesting and varied work (doing project vs program work will largely influence this - ask about which one you'll be doing if you're applying for a general AA posting), excellent benefits (good healthcare coverage/prices, commuter benefits, great PTO accrual and sick time, etc.), pretty good pay. I also have fantastic work-life balance (I rarely think of my job after 5 pm) and the flexible work schedule is nice. I'll stick around here as long as I can!

Cons

Your experience will largely depend on which researchers you work with. Some researchers I've worked with have been the most fantastic leaders I've ever met, and have made my job here a genuine pleasure. Others have been less great. Expect to do lots of "managing up." Again, some will appreciate this, others will hate it, even though it's part of your job. This is minor, but AAs are some of the only hybrid staff who are required to be in the office a minimum number of days each week (currently 2 days). The people I support are rarely in the office or are located elsewhere, so commuting just to sit in virtual meetings feels kind of silly, BUT the offices are newer and comfortable and well-located. Our paid holidays are on the lower end of what's common in DC with your federal employee peers, which is kind of a bummer.

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