Mathematica Reviews
Updated May 26, 2023
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
- "Great colleagues working together to produce high quality work on important topics" (in 41 reviews)
- "Good work life balance if you hold yourself to it and talk to your supervisor when things get too busy." (in 21 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of Mathematica and is not affected by filters.
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- Former Employee, more than 8 years★★★★★Featured Review
Pros
Interesting projects focused on important policy issues; wonderful culture; smart, supportive colleagues; flexible WFH policy; employee-owned
Cons
Proposal season (late spring/summer through early fall) can be stressful; was getting a bit more 'corporate' when I left; hope this doesn't dampen the generally positive, team-oriented culture.
Continue reading - Former Employee★★★★★
Pros
Amazing company culture. Friendly co-workers and very meaningful work.
Cons
I didn’t experience many cons.
- Former Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Good experience, but relatively low pay, long hours, and demanding workload
Mar 12, 2023 - AssociateRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
Mathematica is a good place for Associate/P1 -level staff to gain experience in a variety of job functions and across a wide range of subject areas. The people are generally kind and intelligent. The company has systems in place to document and disseminate SOPs, and is generally fairly organized. I would recommend this position to people who are very resilient to stress, excellent at advocating for themselves, able to manage 4-6 discrete projects simultaneously, and willing to work for less than the market value of their labor.
Cons
There is a significant culture of overwork at Mathematica, and the pay is not commensurate. Associates are pressured to take on increasingly high levels of responsibility (serving, for example, as Project Managers for portfolios cumulatively worth tens-hundreds of millions of dollars), but they are only paid $55k-65k. Unpaid overtime is normalized. Associates, who are hourly non-exempt, regularly work 50+ hours/week but, like everyone else, are basically required to document only 40 hours on their timesheets. As another reviewer put it, there is a culture of working more hours than are billed to the company's clients. Many staff are spread thin between their projects, some working on 6+ at a time and at >100% LOEs, and that exhaustion sometimes leads to corner-cutting on projects.
Continue reading - Current Employee, less than 1 year★★★★★
Amazing Place, Amazing People!
May 26, 2023 - Project Manager in Chicago, ILRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
- Flexibility - Low stress - WFH
Cons
- Can get very meeting heavy
- Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
People are genuinely very nice. The environment will rarely be toxic and it does make it rather easier to enjoy incredibly boring work when you love your colleagues. It is also very stable work, so if you need a job to be just a job and not add more value than a steady income, this really is a very good place to be.
Cons
I've come to believe that the reason people stay at Mathematica so long is a) the way the single good benefit (retirement) accrues requires you to complete the calendar year, so one cannot just find a new position when the going gets tough and 2) there is so little trust in colleagues to do anything stretch that one simply can't demonstrate professional growth despite 5 years at the company which makes for very awkward job interviews and very thin CVs.
Continue reading - Former Employee★★★★★
Pros
Great people and work life balance
Cons
You can find higher salaries and better benefits other places
- Current Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Flexible, brilliant colleagues, interesting work
Apr 14, 2023 - Human Services Researcher in New York, NYRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
Flexible, brilliant colleagues, interesting work. Your career at Mathematica is what you make it. You can carve your own path and project work but it requires a lot of managing up and advocacy.
Cons
Projects deliverables or requests from the client feel "urgent" which leads to long hours and late nights at times. Work life balance could be better depending on the PD you are working with (some are great, others not so much). Parental leave could be better (6 weeks paid) for a company that knows the benefits of having parents at home. No sick time.
- Current Employee★★★★★
Good company
May 19, 2023 - Public Health Research Analyst in Washington, DCRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
Supportive of work life balance, remote work
Cons
Limited mobility, types of projects available
- Current Employee, more than 3 years★★★★★
Demanding work, low pay, glacial promotion schedule
Jan 24, 2023 - Research AnalystRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
Mathematica is a mission driven company full of smart and motivated people. The research portfolio is fairly broad and impactful. Mathematica is employee owned. They offer full-time WFH and hybrid arrangements.
Cons
The pay scale at Mathematica for Jr staff has fallen way behind the industry, especially for analysts who pull much of the weight on project delivery. The job frequently exceeds the 40 billable hours we’re required to log each week. Benefits are likewise lackluster. The promotion schedule for analyst->researcher usually takes 5 years (and sometimes much longer) with no intermediate promotions. There is very little transparency in promotion criteria. In essence, your level of responsibility will increase dramatically each year while your title and salary will not. All of this is compensated by the distant promise of a promotion to “researcher” which the company may choose to grant or withhold according to their whims. Mathematica has a big DEI strategic plan that is referenced in nearly every all staff meeting. However, there’s a notable lack of investment in DEI initiatives. Progress in hiring candidates of color to technical and leadership positions has been minimal.
Continue reading - Former Employee, more than 5 years★★★★★
Top notch company
May 1, 2023 - Senior Researcher in Princeton, NJRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
Excellent colleagues; efficient, strong processes and systems; high quality work on important issues; pay and benefits
Cons
No work life balance; limited control of career as progress within the organization
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Mathematica Reviews FAQs
Mathematica has an overall rating of 3.9 out of 5, based on over 365 reviews left anonymously by employees. 77% of employees would recommend working at Mathematica to a friend and 83% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has improved by 1% over the last 12 months.
77% of Mathematica employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Mathematica 3.6 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.9 for culture and values and 3.8 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Mathematica to be benefits, work life balance, coworkers and the cons to be diversity and inclusion, management, career development.
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