ICF Employee Reviews about "work life balance"
71% would recommend to a friend
(254 total reviews)
John Wasson
87% approve of CEO
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "The company has a good work/life balance and seems to really care about its employees." (in 113 reviews)
- "Great colleagues to learn from and to work with Work/Life balance Provide resources to learn new tech" (in 79 reviews)
- "low pay; raises not equivalent to increases in responsibilities and promotions; some tedious tasks" (in 101 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of ICF and is not affected by filters.
Found 254 of over 2K reviews
Updated Nov 27, 2023
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Reviews about "work life balance"
Return to all Reviews- 1.0Jan 1, 2018Anonymous EmployeeFormer Employee
Pros
No need to work hard because hard work is not rewarded. Too bad I found that out after working 50+ hours every week to do the right thing and care about the company's project delivery and reputation only to be given a raise that was below others and got the blame for working too much. My advice to new employees is just skate by. You will have a utilization of 80 to 85% or so in the E&P Division. Just put in your billable hours and pretend like you are working those other hours and all is good. Leadership is so incompetent they will not even notice or care as long as you meet your magic utilization rate so just reach it and do the minimum. There is no reason to take on 40 hours or more at all so do not do it. So overall, the work-life balance is good if you manage workload to less than 40 hours since there is no reason to work hard!
Cons
I had a very poor experience overall in the E&P Division of ICF. Leadership within my branch was incompetent, completely absent, could not communicate, and really did not care overall about things as long as you were billable. There is more to management and leadership than stressing about billable numbers, especially when you have staff that are overworked.
6 - 2.0Aug 25, 2021AssociateFormer Employee, less than 1 yearNew Delhi
Pros
Good work place and environment
Cons
Allow poor work and life balance
- 4.0Jun 16, 2021Senior Program AnalystCurrent EmployeeArlington, VA
Pros
Diversity and Flexible with Work/Life Balance
Cons
Could be a bit more helpful when trying to locate another position.
- 4.0Oct 6, 2011Business AnalystCurrent EmployeeFairfax, VA
Pros
- The company has a good work/life balance and seems to really care about its employees. - Rapid expansion. - Competitive pay
Cons
- Not as much pay, not as many perks as larger consulting firms. - It can be difficult to move projects within the company as the LOBs seem very siloed.
- 2.0Nov 21, 2016Research AssistantFormer Employee, more than 1 yearFairfax, VA
Pros
- Work life balance is actually very good (because no one does any work). Plenty of work from home opportunities and most people work 40-45 hours a week. - Monthly sponsored happy hours - Close to the metro - Everyone had an office they shared with 1-2 other people. - Very Stable. Low turnover rate. Hard to get fired when everyone is bad
Cons
- Salaries lower than industry standard (Offers $40k to new hires) - Benefits are a joke - Middle management only concerned with direct reports being billable (charging to a project) - Time sheets rule your life. - Easily pigeon holed into same role - No effort to sponsor employees for training. No interest in developing talent - Managers will pull rank on junior employees. Never felt like a colleague. - Hiring business model is to target individuals who they think they can hire for the least amount of money. - Minimal effort put into college recruiting - Lauds their low employee turnover rate, but fails to mention demographics of those numbers. Most people who stay are in the middle/end of their careers and just want a stable job with less responsibilities. This company is career cancer for young people. - Not too much respect in the consulting world. - They tend to hire incredibly dull, boring people.
5
ICF Response7yDear former employee, we’re sorry to read what appears to be a long list of things that you found unfavorable. We would have enjoyed the opportunity to partner with you more directly to address your concerns. Although you are gone, if at any time you wanted to talk with a member of Human Resources we would welcome the chance to do so.
- 3.0Aug 3, 2021ConsultantCurrent EmployeeBoston, MA
Pros
ICF is a good place to start your consulting career fresh out of the college
Cons
pay is below average and sometimes the hours is difficult to have a work life balance
1 - 1.0Jan 29, 2015Senior Software EngineerFormer Employee, less than 1 yearChicago, IL
Pros
The salary was very competitive for the region I worked in at least, the benefits were decent. Work/life balance was OK but only if you don't get caught up trying to compete with all the hard chargers.
Cons
Filled with script kiddies and hot shots who lack any real talent other than the ability to scrape enough BS together to generate nonsensical blogs or presentations in a pathetic attempt to validate their careers. The bulk of them think they can do something way more clever than what the entire industry has already established as best practice, which in a place with experienced and pragmatic engineers would be known as innovation, but in a place like this its more like tragic comedy.
9 - 3.0Oct 28, 2014Research AssistantCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearRockville, MD
Pros
Work/Life balance is great; I tend to be a bit of a workaholic but I'm glad it's not forced. Knowledgeable colleagues. Managers vary but I haven't heard of many terrible ones and mine is great. Company has lots of long-term projects (consulting can be very volatile). PTO accrual seems a little low and you can only carry over two weeks between calendar years. Most of the benefits packages are middle of the road; not bad, not spectacular.
Cons
PAY! Pay varies among the different LOBs and divisions but apparently mine is the red-headed stepchild. I get paid about $8,000 less than the low end for my job title when I looked it up here (granted, the same job title can do any number of tasks within the company. What I do isn't particularly easy). Being in the DC area, anything less than $40,000 is near-poverty. My raise was less than the spot bonuses at my last job. Going to meetings and hearing about all the multi-million contracts they won while getting paid about $35k can be deflating.
7 - 3.0Mar 1, 2021Project ManagerCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsRockville, MD
Pros
The company I previously worked for was acquired by ICF so this is a biased view of that experience. The positives that came along were more opportunities and exposure.
Cons
Forced to take PTO on federal holidays that the company does not support. No plan for sick leave was established for COVID19, employees are asked to take PTO. Very large company that one could easily get lost in. Minimal support from the broader company at the program level. Work/life balance is very difficult to achieve because of minimal support at the program level.
3 - 5.0Oct 24, 2023Senior Software EngineerCurrent Employee, more than 10 yearsReston, VA
Pros
Great colleagues to learn from and to work with Work/Life balance Provide resources to learn new tech
Cons
Slow pay growth Average benefit
ICF Response4wThank you for leaving us your review! Glad you enjoyed so many aspects of our culture – learning and growth opportunities, a supportive environment, and work-life balance. Every year, we review our benefits and audit salaries and compensation against other industries to ensure they are fair and competitive. With ICF, you can make an impact, and join a company that's investing in total compensation—including wellbeing, employee experience, and learning. If you’re still not satisfied and would like to seek additional compensation, prepare for an impact conversation with your manager to discuss what’s needed to get you there. - KZ
