-Nepotism. I cannot stress this enough
-Cliques - if you are not part of the 'in' crowd, your likelihood of being promoted is practically non-existent, unless you are a nepotism hire
-Management will constantly lie to you about being 'instantly promoted if you fall within the roles of a higher position, unlike our competitors', when in reality, the expectation changes every few months and promotions are very rarely given.
-Unstructured mentorship program
-Company lacks direction; extremely disorganized
-Unclear career roadmaps that constantly change, preventing employees from growing/progressing
-Health benefits could be better
-Work-life balance is atrocious, expect to work late hours. Was frequently called during the evening and middle of the night from off-hour shift colleagues
-Primarily "Tier 1" operations work, minimal room for growth after the first few months; mundane tasks
-When asking for more work, management assigns meager projects with a lot of busywork (taking notes during a briefing, making a PowerPoint slide deck that usually ends up getting scrapped/completely re-written, etc.)
-Management emphasizes their availability 'at the drop of a hat', but regularly cancel meetings or misses them without warning. Management overbook their schedules and expect the analysts to guess when they are available
-Pay is significantly below the median salary for similar jobs in Philadelphia - you will make about 1/10 the rate you bill clients.
-Very slim floor/ceiling for entry-level consultants (~$60k-$80k)
-Unused paid time off (PTO) is not compensated at the end of the year. 40 hours max PTO rolled over into the following year
-Annual bonus is pitifully small, especially for the effort the employees give (typically 2-3% of annual salary)
-Company boasts about its non-monetary benefits to justify underpayment (free beer, coffee, snacks, catering, social gatherings, re-emphasizing the great culture and remote work, etc.)
-Expect a minimum three-year commitment prior to any consideration for a promotion, unless you are a nepotism hire, which can get you promoted in a few months. Application for promotion is typically denied and then re-processed in the following months after you improve any areas of concern
-You will be worked to the bone with minimal compensation other than a shoutout during monthly status update meetings, occasionally a company-approved/expensed lunch
-Overdocumentation - the company has an overwhelming amount of documentation which is hard to navigate and poorly structured. Each documentation space follows a different format; lacks uniformity
-Performance feedback is dependent on an app, Impraise, rather than management reviewing your work. Feedback is dependent on your colleagues, who are too overwhelmed with work to spend time giving you feedback on your work.
-Management does not keep tabs on what work you do despite making you record your hours and work done on a daily basis on your timecards
-Company has "SRA Stories", or vlogs, for the 'company favorites' to boast about their one-of-a-kind experiences/projects, making the rest of the company feel inferior about their performance
-Upper management is given a god complex
-Management depends on seniors to carry most of their workload, assigning direct reports, and making them the main point of contact for clients, while typically leading their own teams and mentees too
-Management emphasizes that the company is a 'slow-steering ship' when you request to be put on a new team or project, taking upwards of a year to get moved to a new assignment; however, the 'favorites' typically get moved to new projects or engagements within a few weeks
-Company 'favorites' are heavily depended on. When these employees leave the firm, they leave a significant gap in skill-sets on the team, causing both management and employees to scramble to fill the void
-If you don't have certifications, upper management assumes you are completely inept at the subject matter in question
-The list is endless
