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Applied Research Associates

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Applied Research Associates reviews

3.2

45% would recommend to a friend

(252 total reviews)
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Rob Sues

52% approve of CEO

53% positive business outlook

Applied Research Associates has an employee rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 252 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Applied Research Associates employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Aerospace & Defense industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

252 reviews
1.0
Jun 12, 2018

honest

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I cannot think of anything good.

Cons

management doesn't exist at any level in this company. Everyone is in it for themselves. All managers are over paid and must under pay rest of employees to be able to find work. This is a company that lives of government contracts, and they will not tell you upfront you are responsible for finding your own work, if you don't find work you will not survive.

2.0
Sep 17, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Management tries to keep bureaucracy to a minimum. Not an easy task for a government contractor. Flexible work environment. A good platform for those who bring their own funding.

Cons

Lacks teamwork. Its every person looking out for themself. Few opportunities for professional growth. Contracts are short term and unpredictable, making your employment unreliable.

3.0
Aug 9, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great people, well organized, and an overall stable company with a bright future. Healthcare, retirement and bonus structures are great. Relocation assistance possible. If you are retired from another related company, joining ARA would make sense, especially if retired from the armed forces. For recent graduates and those mid-career, it could be a great temporary stop on your career journey.

Cons

Company is too stable and provides little to no opportunity for employees to advance in career. In the past two years alone no one in my division has been promoted, and growth only comes by hiring in retired experts from outside the company without any internal promotions. (To be fair only a couple of people have left, probably due to the compensation). If hired after April 1 of a calendar year, you will likely not get the required 1,000 billable hours for the fiscal year ending on September 30 that makes one eligible for receiving a retirement contribution and plan vesting. When considering the company it is important to know that about 1/2 or more of the employees work for ARA on contracts at client locations (onsite) with little to no ability to work on other projects for the company that would get you noticed. This essentially makes ARA nothing more than a technical temp staffing contractor. In these cases, such a person is then subject to the client's hours/scheduling, therefore loosing some of the advertised scheduling flexibility and even worse making use of FMLA leave time a dangerous proposition to the employee (since client did not hire ARA to have that onsite person then be away and then creating a business case for ARA letting that person go; to be fair I have not seen this happen but observed no one actually use FMLA when they were entitled to it). In some technical positions, one may quickly become too difficult to replace and thus a liability to the company's bottom line to be promoted.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 252 Reviews

Glassdoor has 282 Applied Research Associates reviews submitted anonymously by Applied Research Associates employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Applied Research Associates is right for you.