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Charles River Associates

Engaged Employer

Charles River Associates reviews

4.0

74% would recommend to a friend

(603 total reviews)
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Paul Maleh

71% approve of CEO

70% positive business outlook

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).

Reviews by job title

603 reviews
2.0
Apr 2, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

At the time I was there, good salary and benefits. Fun people. Flexibility. Independence. Get on with a good VP and your life will be much better. Many employees go on to top programs. You get good experience with data analysis.

Cons

Very little professional development or guidance. Some managers have no ability to communicate. All they care about is productivity. Lots of documents and data. Boring page numbering and quality control.

2.0
Mar 29, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-It can be a good learning experience if you happened to be staffed on one of the very few first rate projects with a competent project manager who knows how to COMMUNICATE. -We have some very smart folks who can dissect complex issues. Most are better off working alone, few can work well with others in terms of giving proper guidance and team leadership. -Good brand for litigation consulting, but forget business consulting. - Decent benefits, but not sure how much longer that will lasts. - If you are independent and possess a lot of initiative, this will be a great entry level job if you are a Junior staff (Analyst/Associates), since most do end up in good/top programs for MBA/Phd/Law. Just remember, people with strong initiatives get very far in life regardless of where they work.

Cons

-Think of an upside down pyramid: Vice Presidents far outnumber the mid and junior staff, yet there is always a lack of project work to keep the few remaining mid and junior staff utilized. - For mid-level consulting staff, professional training is a joke. The bare minimum is provided, and the VPs do very little in terms of taking a vested interest in developing future leadership from within. -Employees are only incentivized to have a myopic focus on utilization alone. Marketing/ proposal work is "appreciated" but not rewarded. And we wonder why we are having trouble filling the pipeline in terms of potential work? - Can be very political, depending on in which practice you are working. - Trouble retaining top employees: Lack of professional development, only utilization is rewarded, low morale due to a continuous high attritrion rate of good/top performers leaving for better opportunities, Sr. management says "A" but does "B", and do very little in terms of inspiring employees. -Lack of transparency in terms of bonus compensation: no one really knows what efforts are being rewarded until after bonuses are already doled out. -Only downward feedback processes, but no upward feedback. Senior management does not want to know what they are doing right or wrong.....nor do they take time to give proper downward feedback as well. -Lack of strategic direction for the company overall. At the practice level, some are better managed than others.

1.0
Mar 23, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I can't think of any reason to work there, unless you are lucky to work on a team led by a solid and well-reputed VP, with a steady inflow of cases.

Cons

- Clueless management, responsible for disastrous decisions concerning hiring and general strategic direction of the company - Many practices are not busy because of third-rate "rainmakers". If you work in a practice that depends on those "rainmakers" then you are in deep trouble (you won't be billable, you will be left alone trying to get jobs in other practices and your bonus will be a joke as it directly depends on utilization rate (despite management's official statements about how CRA values marketing/nonbillable activities at the end of the day it's only your billable utilization rate that matters) - Extremely low morale of junior and mid-level staff. No recognition for skilled employees - Very lousy, if any, feedback on project work by supervisors - If you are lucky to work on any project, they are usually dull and boring and not intellectually challenging (in a way, the type of cases CRA gets are a reflection of the VP that brings them: if you work for 3rd rate "revenue generators", expect to work on a 3rd rate assignment).

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