Acumen reviews

3.1

30% would recommend to a friend

(394 total reviews)

Thomas MaCurdy

5% approve of CEO

22% positive business outlook

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).

Reviews by job title

394 reviews
1.0
Jun 24, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Located in the Peninsula that's close to the airport -You get some meaningful exposure to the healthcare policy as a new college grad -(Seemingly) laid back, chill work place

Cons

-Management is horrible. Although some people have better experience with managers depend on the specific teams, most of the managers here are narcissistic and full of themselves. They make you work long hours with no appreciation, Some managers are particularly hypocrites, claiming that they are open to feedback and suggestions, when in reality are only self centered with their ways of doing certain things, and gaslighting you later to make you feel bad about yourself. -Poor culture. Employees here are nice and (perhaps) smart, but in reality are just new grads from undergrad and graduate programs who had no previous working experience and don't know how to socialize like a normal person. The common pattern is working from 10-9. -No career development. The job titles and descriptions are incredibly vague and nobody tells you how to work to get to the next level. Although it has a lot to do the fact that almost all upper management are males relatives and friends of the current CEO. Performance reviews are just formality-nobody really cares about your growth!! -Weak benefits. No incentives for carpooling despite that most people live in the city and commute 30-40 min for work. Once-a-month company lunch/donuts, and it's just bagels and fruits for rest of the month. Insurance plans offered are also useless when you get sick. -PTO policy. Although it's not unlimited PTOs, for some reason the managers are able to still make you feel bad about asking for sick days or just mental health days to help reset from the toxic work environment, which results in people taking month-long vacation once a year. -Terrible structure. You feel bad about taking vacation because teams are poorly structured with people leaving all the time. Often time you'll have to work 2-3 persons' work. -High turnover. It's pretty obvious that everything mentioned above resulted in the high turnover rate. No one is stupid enough to get that kind of treatment at work!!

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Acumen Response
7y
Reading this leaves me feeling incredibly disappointed because: 1) it's unacceptable for even one of our employees to feel this way; and 2) because this opinion doesn't jive with what I see and hear each day. Our culture begins with our Open Door Policy which encourages feedback directly to managers and/or Human Resources. Simply put, let us know about a concern and be part of the solution rather than perpetuating a problem. That said, we know we're not going to the right fit for everyone, but our 60% employee growth rate over the past 5-years leaves us feeling confident that our recruiting and employee retention efforts are on the right track.
2.0
Jun 21, 2017
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.

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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.
1.0
May 18, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Acumen hires people from a wide variety of backgrounds and the hiring bar is really low as well. Almost all of the openings are at entry level. If you are looking to transition to a data analysis, research, or policy field, Acumen is a decent place to get that initial experience.

Cons

Don't stay at Acumen for more than a year or two. It is an extremely mismanaged company. Depending on who your manager is, you will either be underworked and bored or so overworked that working on weekends and late nights becomes the norm. The pay is low and Acumen has been coming up with new ways and excuses (such as delaying annual promotions and bonuses, etc) for not giving employees a raise/bonus. As people reach higher positions, Acumen will overwork employees to the point of quitting so that they can be replaced with cheaper fresh out of school graduates. Bonuses range from 0 to 2% of salary which is pretty much the same as non existent. Benefits suck.

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Acumen Response
9y
We are sincerely sorry that you have such an impression. We feel that it does not represent who we are as a company. Despite your perception, we are taking the comments left here into consideration and constantly striving for improvement.
Viewing 10 - 12 of 394 Reviews

Glassdoor has 432 Acumen reviews submitted anonymously by Acumen employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Acumen is right for you.