Is Charles River Associates a good company to work for?

Charles River Associates has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on over 670 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has increased by 10% over the last 12 months. 74% of employees would recommend working at Charles River Associates to a friend and 70% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Charles River Associates have been left by employees working as Analyst Intern , Senior Associate and Associate Principal .

Does Charles River Associates pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Charles River Associates employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.5 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Charles River Associates. This rating has improved by 6% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Charles River Associates?

74% of Charles River Associates employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Charles River Associates 3.3 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.8 for culture and values and 3.6 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Charles River Associates?

Associate (140) , Analyst (93) , Consulting Associate (65) , Senior Associate (39) , Associate Principal (25) , Principal (18) , Analyst Intern (12) , Consultant (12) , Intern (12) , Executive Assistant (4) , Manager (4) , Vice President (4) , Forensic Analyst (3) , Life Sciences Analyst (3) , (2)

What are the pros of working at Charles River Associates according to real employee reviews?

"Great people and exposure to high profile experts and cases." ((in 99 reviews)); "intellectually compelling and smart colleagues" ((in 75 reviews)); "Good benefits" ((in 28 reviews)); "good work life balance" ((in 25 reviews)); "Good pay and annual bonus" ((in 21 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Charles River Associates according to real employee reviews?

"Long hours occasionally but this is consulting" ((in 29 reviews)); "The major con at CRA is the unpredictable and long hours." ((in 15 reviews)); "(1) Lack of formal training, (2) Rigid work hours (9 to 6, not counting overtime), (3) Unprofessional management (significant decisions made based on personal conflicts, grudges, etc.), (4) Low salary for high cost" ((in 14 reviews)); "Nothing much unless you end up with a bad manager." ((in 13 reviews)); "The senior management is incompetent and at times dishonest towards staff" ((in 8 reviews))

What are employees saying about Charles River Associates layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Charles River Associates layoffs and their outlook for job security at Charles River Associates in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Charles River Associates locations?

Boston , New York , Chicago , Washington , Oakland , San Francisco , Tallahassee , Los Angeles , Summit , College Station , Dallas , Marlborough , Princeton , Salt Lake City , Oklahoma City , Houston , Pasadena , Philadelphia , Beverly , Northborough , Venetian Village

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Charles River Associates

Charles River Associates reviews

4.0

74% would recommend to a friend

(603 total reviews)

Paul Maleh

71% approve of CEO

70% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.8

Culture & values

3.8

Diversity & inclusion

3.6

Career opportunities

3.5

Compensation and benefits

3.3

Work/Life balance

3.2

Senior management

Charles River Associates has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 603 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Charles River Associates employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Management & Consulting industry (3.5 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

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Reviews by job title

603 reviews

1.0

Jan 25, 2020

No room for improvement

Cyber analyst

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

There's always snacks at work and a lot of team dinners at expensive restaurants. However, as most consulting companies do, they bill the expensive dinners as expense to their clients because of the long hours they work.

Cons

No work life balance - the only week I work a normal 40 hours week was my first week. Every week it is on average about 60 hours to 80 hours weeks. No open communication about your work or feedback from upper management. One analyst is supposed to handle 20+ cases weekly. Very assembly line kind of work. All the good cases are taken by managers who are not free to teach since they are busy. No room for professional growth. All the requests for attending conferences or taking SANS certificates get turned down because they do not want to invest "that" much in analysts (to be honest, analysts in Big 4 are supported to do SANS). Likes to spend on unnecessary parties or dinners. Bad at choosing their teams. Macho culture.

Charles River Associates Response

Thank you for the feedback. It is our intention to give every employee a meaningful experience with interesting and challenging work; investment in training and development; regular feedback and coaching from your manager; on-the-job learning through our apprenticeship model; and a wellness program to support healthy balance. We are sorry that we fell short on this and you did not have a good experience. If you haven't already, we encourage you to share your specific feedback with Human Capital.

2.0

Jan 7, 2018

Analyst

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

-good community of junior staff

Cons

-very inconsistent management styles, many managers lack good management skills as they are hired for their PhD, not actually their ability to manage projects/staff -a lot of repetitive, menial work -long hours, very inconsistent/last minute requirements of junior staff's time and not a good bonus structure that would actually allow you to be compensated for this -despite what the company may make you think, not great exit opportunities for other jobs as economic consulting is a very niche industry that most people have never heard of

4.0

Nov 2, 2017

satisfied

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

It's a great place to start your career if you majored in quant/econ, or make your career as an economics Ph.D . For junior analysts, there's great placement into top graduate programs (almost everyone ends up "trading up" a school tier) into MBA, Law, PhD, etc. Colleges are very sharp, intellectual, friendly, and polite. Definitely very collegial atmosphere, but despite recent pushes not all that collaborative. Very reasonable hours for consulting, even for econ. consulting. Has to be one of the best econ shops out there for work/life balance.

Cons

very repetitive work, wildly inconsistent management styles (these are PhDs, not trained managers, remember) -very quiet, sterile atmosphere. Kind of like a library with the occasional purr of typing, rustling of paper, and shuffling of feet. Obviously not a con if you're into this environment, but just not really my preference.

Viewing 49 - 51 of 603 Reviews

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Analyst

satisfied

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