Nice salary but work is boring - Survey Researcher II Mathematica Employee Review

2.0
Jun 19, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Smart people all around, some interesting projects, great opportunity for bookish PhDs to learn business skills, nice salary relative to other similar companies, nice work/life balance

Cons

Terrible management in survey division, cold working environment, work not divided in an equitable manner, some supervisors and division managers (especially in DC survey division) play favorites, little accountability at higher levels, little contact with the outside world (all communication outside of the company must go through project directors), not much opportunity to learn substantive or methodological research (or survey research) skills,

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5.0
Apr 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great colleagues, 401k match, and interesting work

Cons

Work life balance could be improved and more ability to move between departments

3.0
Jun 29, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Smart people, impactful work. A real community.

Cons

Poor strategic planning. Rather than performing real analysis and proactive thinking, leadership reacts to the environment. Strategy development and implementation at Mathematica seems like leadership throws wet spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. In the 2010s, it was predictive modeling. Rather than proactively using predictive modeling to support their client's goals and the organization's mission, they created a data analytics division, hired smart people, and provided no guidance to support the division. Today, AI has replaced predictive modeling. These examples provide two instances of failures of corporate leadership; many more exist. Unfortunately, the company suffers from short-term incentives and an aversion to long-term investments. As an employee-owned company, you would think that the board and leadership would be more responsive to the employees. No! Over time, they have removed employees' voices from decision-making and focused on increasing their own power and independence.

7
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