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      Acumen

      Engaged Employer

      Acumen reviews

      3.1

      30% would recommend to a friend

      (394 total reviews)

      Thomas MaCurdy

      5% approve of CEO

      22% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      3.5

      Diversity & inclusion

      3.1

      Work/Life balance

      2.9

      Career opportunities

      2.8

      Compensation and benefits

      2.6

      Culture & values

      2.0

      Senior management

      Acumen has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 394 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Acumen employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Government & Public Administration industry (3.6 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      394 reviews
      2.0
      Jun 21, 2017

      Believe the bad reviews

      Data and policy analyst
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      They literally hire anyone. A lot of people use working at Acumen as a way to make money while applying for better jobs. So I guess the pro is that it's not difficult to get hired?

      Cons

      Lack of communication and transparency - there are constant "reorganizations" that are sprung on teams with little to no notice, but management preaches transparency. No one to talk to - I once mentioned something to HR about a negative experience I had with a manager. There was no plan offered other than "I'll let him/her know that you feel that way". I don't need to play telephone about my feelings, there needs be be better ways to provide feedback about your manager. Stagnant upper management - A lot of the people who have been here for a long time are checked out. It is incredibly uninspiring to work for and with such people. Inconsistency - Your success/privileges here are dependent only on your manager. Managers are trained internally and generally don't have a lot of management skills or people skills, for that matter. Work/life balance - Lots of teams work 12 hour days regularly. A very unhealthy workplace in that regard. Anti-social office - People here tend to range from ignoring you to being actively unfriendly. High turnover - This is quite obvious once you experience the office environment, but something needs to be done. It's really demoralizing.

      avatar
      Acumen Response
      9y
      Thank you for your thoughtful review. I am very disheartened to hear that you felt HR was dismissive of your management issue. If you feel comfortable, I would like to hear more about that. On Hiring, we do have a rigorous interview and hiring process. Over the last year the company has worked on solidifying our culture and communicating more openly. We understand your frustration regarding the movement of teams between Directors and Managers. We appreciate your feedback and will work with Management to see if we can better communicate the changes proactively. We are continuing to work with managers to provide the tools to more effectively work with their teams. We hope this will enrich our management team and provide better experiences for our employees. We are a company that does amazing work and we should have a culture that matches that. We strongly encourage work life balance. We want to have a culture that respects and inspires people. We continue to work to bring teams and people together with both work and social functions.
      4.0
      May 23, 2017

      Great learning experience

      Policy associate
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      For data analysts, Acumen provides a wonderful opportunity to work with very rich healthcare data (clinical, provider, demographic, financial, etc.), to learn from smart and experienced economists and policy researchers, and to design, implement, and present analyses to clients, even for entry-level programmer analysts. Analysts are encouraged/pushed to recommend ideas for new analyses and to implement them, and are recognized for going above and beyond on project work, so you can get a lot of hands-on learning in analytical approaches, statistical tools, programming, etc. There is typically time to work on more than just the specific problems outlined in project plans and to work on long-term projects that will be beneficial for Acumen’s project teams down the road and will serve as a learning experience.

      Cons

      Acumen hires college grads in waves, and analysts sometimes are brought onto a team without a clear immediate role assignment. Communication between research/analyst teams and IT/Data Support is sometimes lacking. Some government clients can be disorganized at times (not Acumen’s fault, but can still be a bit demoralizing). Clients are still typically very appreciative of Acumen's efforts.

      avatar
      Acumen Response
      9y
      Thank you for your thoughtful review. I am very pleased that you had a good experience with Acumen. We are aware of the challenge between research/analyst teams and IT/Data Support and are actively recruiting for a Technical Project Manager to bridge that gap. In addition, we are building training programs to assist with the development of our management team. We will certainly take your advice to heart and include enhancing the development of analysts and technical managers. We wish you well in your future endeavors.
      1.0
      May 6, 2017

      BEWARE. *Don't waste your time here.*

      Analyst
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      I wanted to say something good, but it's hard to find any. -SAS training for those who don't have background in it. -Employees are good here.

      Cons

      Please be aware of all the negative reviews here, they are ALL TRUE. -Not a good starting point for your career if you are not interested in the policy aspect. -There is no such thing as data analytics here. You won't have a say to make improvements and make better contributions since they don't value you. -The salary is insanely low for a programmer in the Bay Area. -people are leaving at a rapid rate -They either give you a lot of work to do, or they will let you leave all of a sudden without any prior notifications. They will take your badge right away and watch you leave. It's even not right for you to wander around in the lobby when you are notified for the termination all of a sudden. -The company culture is weirdly stingy. -Neither the management nor the HR care about you. -they prefer hiring their close-knits for advanced positions instead of investing in excellent current staff for promotions -They are finding whatever "reason" to lay off good people to avoid the cost and "justify" themselves. -There is no such thing as big data here. They are ruining the definition of big data. It's only basic data ANALYSIS, even not analytics.

      avatar
      Acumen Response
      9y
      Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We am truly sorry you had a bad experience with our company. It sounds like you had very different expectations of the position before you started here. As an organization we are working hard to improve all areas of the company. We have had some great feedback on our new programs and continue to add more internal programs to develop the career tracks of our current employees. We are proud to say we promote from within and people here have a tremendous opportunity to make an impact on HealthCare Policy for the country. We appreciate the time you took to post a review and we will take your recommendations to heart.
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