Enlightened Reviews

As someone who has works on the inside of this company and has been exposed to the wonders that are Corporate leadership for 18 months plus, I would like to point out the fact that a majority of the positive responses on here are "plants." As a negative review is posted, notice that within a few days a few positive ones will miraculously appear. Meaning, this is Corporate's way of dealing with bad press and negative publicity in an attempt to spin perception positively. This company is all about its outward image and less concerned about the internal one among its employees. I am not insinuating that the company has paid, or offered an incentive for posting positive reviews, but know there are people working there that have done this. This has been confirmed. The only close to "HONEST" reviews are the ones that identify the negativity. Also notice the company's response to just the negative reviews, seems revealing they would launch into damage control only when being criticized. This company is run on motivational memes and videos. But the meaning and intent, while relative, is significantly lost and never truly followed after viewing/reading it once. There is no consistency in leadership. The CEO expects things to go a certain way, but then is quick to contradict his previous guidance, IF he is available to give any guidance. If you rub the CEO the wrong way or go against him, he will ignore your attempts to talk to you, and make you feel completely inferior as a form of punishment (to which I have personally witnessed this happen). He prides himself on his public image, and places that as his utmost priority. He is your typical narcissist and hides from confrontation (outside the company). He would rather take a back seat (offering little to no guidance), which allows things to progressively get worse, and then swoop in to present himself as a savior without actually solving the problem, because he doesn't truly understand the problem. The company has no culture, in fact the CEO launched 2 individual Culture committee campaigns within the last 18 months and both identified the same problem, the CEO. The results were quickly dismissed because the CEO refuses acknowledge (or listen) to where the problem really lies. Culture begins with leadership at the top. If you cannot acknowledge the fact that you are not doing your part to hold up your end, then YOU need to change. The CEO is incapable of changing because he is incapable of acknowledging there is a problem. If you are not willing to be a 'yes' man and do what the CEO instructs, you will not fit in here. He does not take kindly to people questioning/challenging his leadership or decisions (or advising for that matter). Its his way or the high way, no matter the cost. Sure he is involved in all kinds of DC Government volunteer roles, he has been nominated/received this award or that award (which are self purchased by the way), and is an upstanding guy in the eye of the community (by his own proclamation). Volunteering and award recognition does not make a good leader. Stop with the qualifying words and motivational speeches, and LEAD BY ACTIONS and SET THE EXAMPLE. Any one who walks around congratulating themselves, constantly patting themselves on the back for being the smartest person in the room, probably has an ego problem which will ultimately block their ability to grow. If you are the smartest person in the room, you have a serious problem. The entire headquarters office is in disarray, and is barely functional, that is to say the office is 100% reactive to a situation as opposed to being proactively engaged (Ruled number 1 of the coveted 7 Habits philosophy which is preached but not followed here). They are constantly running through people in key, critical positions that should not experience a high level of turnover (specifically HR, Comptroller, Recruiting). The recruiting department is currently outsourced which means there is a constant delay and struggle in identifying qualified people for a contract in a quick and efficient manner. The program management office is non-existent, so no real processes or procedures have been clearly defined. PM's are often asked to work issues that require the attention of another department, usually Finance or HR, which would be fine if they had a clue as to what is going on, which they do not. To make matters worse, the CEO does not place his full faith and confidence in his PM Management team (micromanages everything) nor his senior leaders, which greatly affects the effectiveness of the actual contract management staff and performance of the company as a whole. In fact, the CEO is the weakest link in this realm. He portrays himself as all knowing of everything and rarely seeks the guidance of his Managers on anything. It is a laughable situation at best. The company is always under cutting positions in terms of salary. Current employees are offered no type of incentive for raises or any type of bonuses. They consistently nickle and dime their contracts trying to place themselves in a winning situation or pursuing personal agendas, and a majority of the time leave their employees with no room for a salary increase. In the event you are eligible for an increase, you have to go through a very difficult and unorganized process of making that request (which is not clearly defined for their employees). They are all about the bottom dollar and turning a profit, which is normal for a company, but these guys are willing to sacrifice good hard working employees to save a dollar or two. Moving up the corporate ladder is next to impossible because the company has no organizational chart to indicate where you fit into the "Company Model." Once you are on a contract, there is nothing else...when your contract ends, you are done. I still have no idea what this company does or produces. There is no strategic outlook or forward thinking mindset, EVERYTHING is reactive. I am sure there will be a corporate response addressing these issues, and justifying itself or contradicting everything that was said above, no doubt citing all kinds of recognition's and awards as well as how active they are in the community. As I read through previous negative comments about this company, I can't help but agree with a majority of them, some are 100% accurate. It is really disheartening to be a part of an organization that is incapable of making any significant progress. Do yourself a favor and walk away from this one and keep looking for a job. You will be miserable and regret your decision within 6 months.

Where to begin…senior leadership (eg, the CEO and CFO) lacks integrity and has questionable ethics. I have personally experienced several occasions where the CEO or CFO – sometimes both, together – have lied to me about substantial issues, for example, advocating padding employee hours in order to increase those billable hours to the client – then denying that was the message conveyed, even though it was conveyed in front of others. They have also lied about changing position pay rates for new employees after those rates had been established for previous employees in the same labor category, claiming ignorance when confronted as to why the salary was suddenly lowered. I have witnessed the CEO – on multiple occasions – publicly chastise subordinates, as an apparent method to control them thru fear and intimidation. I advised the CEO against taking certain actions on my contract as I believed his actions were counter to corporate interests and client intent and/or contract stipulations, only to be told that I must not disagree with him (incidentally, the CEO’s actions did have a negative impact on the company, both in terms of its reputation with the client as well as monetarily). Senior leadership – the CEO and CFO – have created a poisonous corporate culture, for which they refuse to acknowledge any type of responsibility (and it has been brought to their attention on multiple occasions by internal and external corporate advisors, and ignored in each instance). They motivate by fear, intimidation, and manipulative charm (which lasts only for so long – the cliché “actions speak louder than words” is very appropriate when dealing with this company’s leadership). As a result, most of the headquarters workforce is unhappy or afraid, or both – this poison is also very noticeable to field elements that come to headquarters for meetings. Many people have left after a relatively short period of time, sometimes without even lining up new jobs before submitting their resignation. In the time I worked there the CEO went through 5 Executive Assistants, 3 Comptroller/Finance managers resigned (and another removed after only 4 months), nearly half a dozen recruiters have either resigned or were removed (the company now contracts out its recruiting operation), at least 3 Human Resources personnel have left, half a dozen front desk receptionists have either left or been removed, and more than half a dozen – depending on how one chooses to count them – Business Development personnel have cycled thru the company. The problem isn’t “everyone else”, it’s senior leadership. This corporate churn is unhealthy for any business, but is especially damaging for a Small Business looking to grow into a Large Business. It is also NEVER a good sign when the corporate finance operation is experiencing that high volume of turnover. The churn listed above occurred in the space of 19 months. The current Operations Manager – the longest tenured employee in the company - has notified senior leadership he will be leaving after nearly 7 years, which means the next “senior” employee at the company will have a total of 3 years’ experience. There is no stronger statement about the instability and ill health of the corporate culture than these numbers. Good people leave. A manager in this company cannot expect support and decisive action by senior leadership. I was left to fend for myself when confronting a corporate teaming partner about documented violations of their subcontract agreement and blatantly unethical actions, because the CEO was afraid (in his words, “we can’t win in a war” with this company). When we did “win” by forcing this company to remove itself from the contract, it was because I held the line and not corporate leadership – a fact recognized by everyone in the company. Leadership fails to recognize their lack of political acumen sabotages their own position. They also fail to recognize they are building an industry reputation as an unreliable partner, which continues to build due to their self-oriented actions. I ceased being surprised at the unfavorable reactions I would get from other corporate contacts who were familiar with this company, when I identified myself as an employee. This company’s reputation precedes it. A manager at this company can also expect significant pushback from senior leadership if action needs to be taken against employees considered one of the CEO’s “preferred” employees. Female employees feel especially vulnerable in the face of workplace harassment. One notable entry posted on this website had spread thru the company particularly quickly; senior management and the CEO were repeatedly advised to get in front of these serious allegations and address them with the company. They never did; that fact alone speaks volumes about leadership’s mindset towards this company and its employees, blatant favoritism towards select employees, and tolerance of misconduct (or at least not addressing it to stop very damaging rumors from circulating). In no uncertain terms, stay away from this company. If you are in desperate need of a job, only stay until you find a company that has better leadership, a better corporate culture, and a more stable corporate operation. I began to recognize these problems as I spent more time with corporate leadership. I stayed to take care of my team I had developed for the project I was on, to see the project thru successfully, and to take care of the client whom I respected and knew well. I stayed too long.