Compare Mathematica vs MDRC BETA

Pros

Employees who work at Mathematica are very high achieving and have very high expectations of the company. Leadership cares about the company and tries hard to do the right thing. Employees have... many avenues to voice their concerns. Performance expectations are extremely high. Colleagues are supportive and nice.

Cons

The company is getting bigger which means implementing more structure. There is also a lot of organizational change happening. Many employees who have been with Mathematica for 10 years or more are... having a hard time with all the change. While leadership isn't getting everything absolutely right, they are being very thoughtful and deliberate.

Advice to Management

Mathematica is a mission driven organization. The work that is done here impacts real world social policies. Mathematica's work is used to make important decisions that impact people inside and... outside the US. Mathematica is not about consumerism or products. It is a great place to work if you want your work to matter and not just line someone's pockets. However, the company still needs to act like a business and that means sometimes making hard decisions or trade offs so that employees can be compensated and receive the benefits that they are used to and deserve. I encourage leadership to keep thinking carefully about these trade-offs and not forget that in a organization whose product is data and information, the people that manage, analyze, and communicate that information are its most precious asset.

Pros

I've been working at MDRC for a little while now and it's been a positive experience thus far. The organization has a great mission and my colleagues are all passionate about the work they do.... They've been intentional about having an inclusive environment set in place and strive to strengthen it by providing staff training and communications around topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion. There's also been a push for more consistent feedback to both staff and management across the organization aside from the norm of annual performance reviews.

Cons

Being too collaborative has also lead to any decision that needs to be made, on the slow side, as often times there may be too many cooks in the kitchen.

Advice to Management

-Continue to think about ways to improve upon internal communications in innovative ways -Continue to encourage staff involved in the hiring process' to cast a wide net, check potential unconscious... bias' and pursue candidates that represent the populations that we serve. It's a great way to give back to those communities! -Do pulse checks from staff via employee surveys to check on engagement and morale