Pros
Westat can be a great place to work if your supervisor is amiable, willing to spend time mentoring you, put you in interesting and/or high-profile projects, and value your input. The company encourages professional development and is willing to pay for professional association membership dues, tuition for workshops and short courses, and attendance of annual conferences. You have your own office. Parking is free, although employees always seem to outnumber parking spaces. The atmosphere in general is business casual. Everyone has access to an area secretary, who will help with administrative tasks and whose knowledge of how things work in the company could be invaluable to newcomers. There is an in-house mail room and cafeteria. The Editorial Department offers excellent support for document development and revisions. Training sessions for SAS, WesVar, and Blaise are offered several times a year to employees. Westat is very good at what it is doing, i.e. large scale data collection for social science research, and you'll feel proud of being part of a team who contributes to their monumental efforts.
Cons
Many supervisors were high-strung, verbally abusive, and too ready to vent their stress on their subordinates. A lot of them had a 'my way or no way' mentality, and did not appreciate peers or subordinates who offered alternative solutions to the problems at hand. The management rewarded those with an assertive, almost abrasive, personality. Exchanges of smart comments in public among members of the management were neither uncommon nor discouraged. Common courtesy was not always observed. Some members of the management were so into gossiping that they would do it in busy hallways, as if they were still in high school. Performance reviews were not helpful: If you had a salary raise, they'd tell you that you actually didn't deserve it, but since you have marketable skills. they had no choice but to increase your compensation. If you worked hard, then they'd tell you that everyone worked hard at Westat (which was not true) so it's not a big deal. If you have a PhD and they don't, they'll hate you; if you don't have an advanced degree, they'd tell you, in your face, that you are not good enough - it happened to 2 colleagues of mine. The nature of work is similar across projects. If you prefer predictability and routine, then you might enjoy the place. If you want to expand your skill set and love variety in assignments, you'll feel bored very soon. If your job requires a high level of attention to details, the noise in the hallway can drive you crazy, since most groups emphasize face-to-face interactions and encourage employees to keep their door open.