Ok company to work for but LOTS of issues - Research Associate Westat Employee Review

2.0
Feb 11, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Free Parking Decent Benefits Private offices Depending on your assignment supervisor flexibility in work schedule

Cons

As many have pointed out Salary is below industry standards. Raises are negligible. They have a dual supervisor model which is intended to protect empolyees but it rarely works as intended. Your personnel supervisor is supposed to be your advocate while your assignment supervisor monitors your work assignments. Here's the problem with this model...a lot of times your personnel supervisor is directly involved in managing your project so it ends up being a huge conflict of interest. Nepotism runs rampant and getting attractive assignments is often based on "who you know" rather than "what you know". As another poster said lots of cliques (In some cases you would just as easily mistake this place for a high school campus). Management is a joke! Total lack of people skills and professionalism. Very unclear directives. Some of them downright verbally abuse employees and get away with it. There is no recourse. You are encouraged to ask for new roles or assignments but unless you know the right people you rarely get assigned to want interests you. Most of the positions end up being dead end.

Explore other reviews about Westat

5.0
Jun 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company to work for. Training is always effective and well designed.

Cons

Projects/data collection periods could be longer.

4.0
Jul 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some of the leadership are fantastic! Pay is fair

Cons

Some staff do not respect lower staff; especially when they are Black lower level staff. Reactive instead of proactive when it comes to training up staff as opposed to hiring consultants Benefits and pay suffered after the administration took over Work-life balance frequently is an issue. Intrusive work expectations.

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