Nava reviews about "benefit"

*salary bands are lower than typical for tech *benefits were recently cut in half *high leadership and management turnover

- public sector environments can be tough when you are trying to work in modern ways or transform their operations - some clients have difficult personalities

The organization struggles with fundamental operational and leadership challenges. Direct management was inconsistent and lacked the clarity, guidance, and accountability expected at this level, making it difficult to succeed and grow in the role. More broadly, there is a noticeable absence of accountability across teams, often resulting in confusion about ownership and responsibilities. Communication practices are another significant issue. An overreliance on Slack created a highly fragmented and overstimulating work environment, where critical work was buried in constant notifications and excessive back-and-forth. This was compounded by an overabundance of company-wide huddles, many of which disrupted day-to-day productivity without delivering clear value. The organization often felt structurally undefined. Roles and responsibilities weren't always clearly communicated, leaving employees frequently unclear on who has been hired or what their function is. There were several moments where I would attempt to reach out to someone via email or Slack just to find out that their access is activated and they no longer work for the company. No announcement, nothing, just awkard moments of realizing that a coworker no longer works at the company. High turnover further destabilized team cohesion. Leadership also appears to lack strategic clarity at times, particularly when it comes to differences of opinions, and establishing clear event goals and objectives, leading to inefficiencies and last-minute pivots. Cross-team collaboration, while encouraged, often resulted in misalignment and duplicated efforts rather than streamlined outcomes. Some assigned tasks felt redundant and lacked meaningful opportunities for growth or skill development. Additionally, it was difficult to schedule time with colleagues, which slowed progress and created bottlenecks on critical tasks and projects. Onboarding and role clarity are particularly weak points—receiving a formal job description more than eight months into the role reflects a broader pattern of disorganization. Overall, the company operates in a reactive mode, often “building" the plane while flying it,” which contributes to an unsustainable and at times chaotic work environment.

Nava is a civic tech company, which means as an employee you are more likely to join the company because you care to improve the lives of others. If you're like me, your commitment to positive changes can cause you to get deep into the work and forget about a work/life balance. The good thing is, management is very aware of this and pushes employees to take time off and disconnect.

Sometimes, working with government clients can be challenging. The pay isn't low, but it isn't high either. It's good enough for me!

lots of changes (some confusion)

- There can be an almost toxic positivity about Nava at times; a clear gap between the narrative being built internally and sometimes people's very real experiences in disrespectful or challenging client engagements where they receive little real support. Aside from nice words, leadership should do more to tangibly support employees working in negative environments with increased pay, specialized training, or shorter tenures in those projects - Some of the processes and practices at the company are still made for a small company, not a 200+ person company; this can feel painful at times - No part-time work, though they are very flexible with your full-time work - No bonuses or other monetary means for taking on additional "internal" work -- it's most often asked for on a voluntary basis and expected you do it on top of your billable client work

Psychologically unsafe, emotionally toxic environment. People speak to each other with a level of snark and disrespect I have never encountered before in a professional environment. Management rewards "yes men" and does not keep its promises. Many benefits were rolled back in the last year. If you speak up, expect retaliation. Salaries are not competitive. I worked the hardest I ever have to get paid the least I have in the last 6 years. Company is operationally impotent which hampers people's ability to do great work for clients. Extreme dysfunction exists at all levels of the company.

Company is still small but growing aggressively. I have no complaints so far.