Pros
Eh. Free K-cups at the office if you're not working on client site.
Cons
Where to even begin describing this trainwreck of a company. First, go read the previous reviews from 2014. I read the reviews prior to accepting my position and foolishly thought, “Hmm, I’ve survived grad school. How bad could it be?” Very bad. I was treated with more dignity and respect as an indentured servant in graduate school than as a subject matter expert at HRA. Disparaging comments, sometimes masked as jokes, were made regarding my abilities on multiple occasions by the HRA "upper management," which consists of 2 people within a 10-person company. Last minute requests for updates and meetings are often made by upper management, seemingly as a ploy to ensure we are chained to our computers and desks. On the flip side, meetings are often delayed and rescheduled minutes before because upper management cannot manage their own time and have no respect for other people’s time. Direct communication with the client is also highly discouraged and must be filtered through upper management. However, they sit on the emails for weeks, thus delaying the progress of the projects. The incompetence of the HRA upper management was also grossly clear very early on. While it is not possible for everyone to be an expert on everything, I am a firm proponent of having the self awareness to know your own strengths and weaknesses. The HRA management lack that self awareness and make up for it in narcissism. Despite their "years of experience," which both of them are sure to bring up multiple times in every conversation, they know next to nothing about data management, data infrastructure, and research design. Instead of deferring to and really taking in the words of those who are doing the grunt work, upper management insists we proceed doing things their way. As a result, crazy deliverable deadlines are set and expectations for the said deliverables are not communicated. When the deliverables don't look the way they want (literally, don't look the way they envisioned in their head) because no templates or guidance were provided despite repeated requests, we are chastised like children. When asked if there is any substantive feedback about our documents, we were given nothing. It is mind boggling that more emphasis is placed on the color of tables than the contents within the tables. Then when deadlines have to be pushed because upper management can't do their jobs in a timely fashion, the team is not informed until hours before the original deadline and no responsibility was taken by the upper management. To add even more oil to this already out of control grease fire, the HRA upper management is shady, unethical, and manipulative. First, the August 2017 review below is clearly written by upper management. They throw team members under the bus when they are called out for spreading wrong information. They present others’ finished products as their own. They have also started targeting certain people by piling work onto their plates and expecting a short turnaround for the numerous tasks. If these coworkers can’t complete everything within the set time, they will be replaced. Essentially, they are being set up to fail. Why the HRA upper management thinks this is a viable tactic is beyond me because they are already short staffed and under very tight time constraints. They are jeopardizing entire projects and government contracts with these little tests. Due to the high turnover rate at HRA, upper management is used to seeing people leave after a short tenure. The quickest someone had left was two months. Instead of trying to understand why people are leaving and improving business and management practices to better retain employees, blame is placed on those who are leaving and attention is shifted to recruiting fresh meat. I strongly advice everyone to not seek employment at HRA and decline job offers from here. The paycheck is not worth all of this frustration, anguish, and belittlement. Obviously we all have bills to pay, so if you must take a job here, keep in mind that you will not be here for long and don’t stop your job hunt.
