Pact (Washington DC) Reviews

Cons

The organization hasn't always had such a strong ear to employees. They are really changing this. The motivation to improve and change as needed is so strong. They may not do everything right, but there is enough humility to see it change.

Cons

Where to start? Perhaps by a review of what has been said below. I was shocked that Mark Viso CEO was rated as highly as 25% favorably. But then I checked the reviews more closely. Just about every good review for Mark Viso comes from either interns or junior level staff. I only saw 2 from someone who would have interacted with him much.

In short, Pact is run by a bully. It is especially brutal to work here as a more senior level women, as several have said. Everything, and I mean everything, is done to satisfy his very out sized ego. A decade in to his rule, he is like an old school President for Life, I'm always right, know you place, obey all commands and you will be fine kinda leader. Those who step out of place, politely suggest he may not be perfect, are banished from his court, sneered and and made to feel very unwelcome in the boys club called leadership. I'm so pleased not to be there.

Cons

Pact has a poor reputation when it comes to gender issues. I have experienced these issues myself and seen others struggle with them too. Nothing is done to address this chronic discrimination. The lack of job security doesn’t help either.

Cons

CEO Viso has his bad days, mostly when he hires top executives. They rarely last long, often for good reason. The sloth-like COO du jour makes sure Pact remains inert.

Cons

I felt used by Mark Viso CEO. I was warned when I joined that he uses people and then drops them. He is especially challenged by strong women. I've never worked with such a self opinionated and not insecure human being. Nasty. Lower down or out of GE country I think Pact is still a good place to grow. Just avoid Mark.

Cons

If you are interested in Pact, you need to be aware that it is going through a lot of changes right now. There is no clear leadership and direction within the organization.

Depending on the departments, Pact has employees who are very competitive and not supportive.

The Pact is very centralized. Country offices don't have enough latitude to be successful.

Cons

Oh, goodness, where do I begin. A lot of what others have said. Wasted money on so many consulting groups that don't seem to do anything. Major functions like HR outsourced. Let's add to the HR thing the fact that there is no standardization to our job positions, which the HR consultancy was supposed to fix, and that hasn't happened yet. We have no idea what's going on with transformation because we haven't had an all staff meeting in 6 months. At first staff were involved with everything, now we're involved with nothing. I guess the consultants are handling it. In addition, our country offices pay consultants money for basically no reason - to do work that they never actually do and there doesn't seem to be any oversight on that. PD and AM know about at least some of it. I don't blame them for it at all, I blame the holes in accountability with the country offices, who basically do whatever they want (and you think granting them more autonomy under transformation is going to make this better?). Then we either send out shoddy work that angers our donors or someone else has to fix it, usually an HQ staffer, costing us double the money and / or our reputation. Pact is basically hemorrhaging money for no good reason and tanking its reputation in the process.

Let's talk about culture. You're basically expected to work 60+ hours. And travel with minimal notice (I'm talking a few days). It's NOT conducive to a good work-life balance. Then more work with transformation and the quality sprints are piled on. Thankfully some of the folks with terrible, nasty attitudes have left. But, some still remain. I think a lot of this is on upper management. They're creating a culture of mistrust and people are just scared so they're protecting their egos and livelihoods. There's so much ambiguity, which seems to be par for the course for Pact. I kind of can't blame people for worrying about their positions and visibility in the company. I just wish they would understand that we're all in it together and treating other people poorly and gossiping behind everyone's backs isn't the way to go about fixing things. Overall, there are plenty of super terrible attitudes running around at all levels of employment and these folks need to go. No more making excuses for them. No giving them 2 years of chances with no actual direction on what they need to do to change. Just get rid of them already.

How do you move up in the organization? I have no idea. I've seen the same people get promoted over and over and they're the people with the least positive contributions to the organization. Meanwhile, the hardest workers with the largest contributions are passed over for years, told that there's no money to compensate them or that no one is getting a promotion this year (I know of a few directors who were told that in multiple departments and clearly that wasn't true). Stop promoting the same people over and over again or the people who you then say are not pulling their weight. It's a total mixed message. Half the people you promote then leave a few months later. Clearly upper management doesn't have an eye for who really is a worthwhile employee. I've asked how to improve so that I can be promoted and I'm told that I'm already doing a great job and everything I'm being asked and going above and beyond. So, tell me, how does one get promoted if I'm already doing the things that you've told me I need to do to get promoted? That doesn't make me want to contribute much anymore.

Meanwhile, we're understaffed. Disgustingly understaffed. See above comments on hemorrhaging money for no good reason and expectation for working 60+ hours. No wonder we can't hire the staff we really need. Half a mill to Accenture? That's a good few solid staff members we could have hired to help alleviate people's work loads.

You're shocked I would recommend this place to work at, right. It's because there's actually a lot of potential good here and the work we do is really fulfilling. Plus, it's just as terrible everywhere else, but for different reasons. At Pact, you just need to be good with serious ambiguity and some attitude problems from your colleagues.

I think I've said enough.

P.S. Or not. Where are those spot bonuses Mark V. said at the holiday party that we'd be able to give to our colleagues? Are they being funneled instead into yet another consultant company?

Cons

Like any organization, some bumps

Cons

As we are going through transformation some employees are naturally having a hard time adjusting.

Cons

The latest positive reviews are obviously fake. That they offer nothing of substance (e.g. how or why) and give no advice to management is the first red flag. That they follow a string of negative reviews (many deleted) and a noticeable drop in company rating is another. One ends by saying bumps are normal and the other that difficulty adjusting is natural. Do you think we are stupid?

Upper management has already been caught writing and/or encouraging fake reviews and I assumed this would stop after our part time VP left.