Grant Street Group reviews

3.7

66% would recommend to a friend

(89 total reviews)

Myles Harrington and Dan Veres

89% approve of CEO

69% positive business outlook

Grant Street Group has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 89 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Grant Street Group employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

89 reviews
5.0
Mar 21, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The co-CEOs are extremely open, transparent and approachable. They take an incredible personal interest in employees. This inspires intense loyalty among both employees and clients. The company is filled with exceptional people. There are many with impressive personal and professional accomplishments, but they’re more uniformly distinguished by being hard-working, reliable, focused and committed regardless of background. The leadership would describe these people as “virtuous” and for the most part, Grant Street has succeeded in hiring and retaining people with these characteristics. Fewer people have left (especially early career professionals) than I expected from my experience at other companies. Effective business management. The results speak for themselves: consistently high revenue growth for 20+ years built on sound business practices. No acquisitions. Clients almost never leave. When Grant Street builds a product it's better than any alternatives. And none of this is a result of any exotic business strategy, it’s mostly just execution – delivering whatever was promised to clients. The company is able to pull this off because the exceptional people described above are doing the work.

Cons

Grant Street’s organization is not a great fit for everyone. To outsiders, most people don’t have overtly impressive jobs. Job titles are minimal. Management layers are minimal. There aren’t clear career paths. There are few leadership positions with real authority, when and how people get those positions can seem mysterious. What you get in the trade for not having an important-sounding title or a ladder to climb is a “good” job: colleagues you like and respect, good compensation and benefits, a great working environment, challenging problems to solve, and a company that will probably be around to provide those things long-term. That’s great for many people, but might not be the right risk / reward proposition for everyone. If you want to work for a company with headline-grabbing goals like solving climate change, disrupting education or colonizing Mars, this may not be a good fit. Grant Street concentrates on complex, niche government products.

1.0
Aug 9, 2024

Fake Culture. Horrendous and heartless management

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lower level people you work with are kind and helpful

Cons

Management is the most elitist and incompetent group you will ever come across. They spend their interviews gushing about the amazing culture and how smart and humble the entire staff is, but this isn't at all true. The lower level employees are capable and down to earth, but the upper management is completely disconnected and condescending. They do not value the feedback of their employees, and I have known of multiple analysts who have been fired with no warning or attempt at a PIP, despite protests from their mentor/team lead. GSG says they don't do titles like "senior" or "vice president" as part of the culture, but this is the most toxic hierarchy I have ever witnessed. If you work here, be prepared to be in constant fear of having to interact with the snobs in upper management, as they make swift decisions based on little to no evidence. They also preach about how if the role you are in isn't a fit for you they will work to find your fit. This could not be further from the truth. You'll either be shuffled around to random teams that are short staffed, or terminated. Don't fall for all the culty talk about the culture. None of it is genuine.

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Grant Street Group Response
1y
Response from our President: If you really are a current employee, I invite you to come forward and meet with anyone on the executive team you would feel comfortable talking to about your concerns. Both of the co-founders are also willing to meet with you. We are open to constructive feedback. No reprisals.
4.0
Jan 19, 2019

Some flaws, but overall a great place to work

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. The people: This will likely be the first thing you notice, especially if you’ve worked for other companies. Grant Street has very strict qualifications for hiring (only 20 hires out of 10,000+ applicants) so almost without exception, the employees are smart, hard-working, humble, and interesting people. Amazingly, this applies to the whole company. Yes, the developers and business analysts are incredible, but even the admin staff and travel coordinator are exceptional. 2. Management philosophy: All of management, including the owners and C-level executives, know me by name and are familiar with my accomplishments. They care about my experience at work and value my opinion. I can, and have, reach out to them directly to express concerns and those concerns are taken seriously. And beyond work-related topics, management also respects and cares about each employee at a personal level. I was doubtful about this when I started, but I’ve seen enough evidence of this that I am convinced. 3. Opportunity: If you are a hard-working, driven, and talented worker your opportunities at Grant Street are unlimited. The company gives everyone to take on additional responsibilities and show what they are capable of. Performance and potential is recognized and rewarded. Promotions happen regularly, and always from within. Office politics will not be the reason you didn’t move up in this company. 4. Transparency: Most workplaces operate under the principle of restricting information. Nothing is revealed unless there is a very important reason. Grant Street does the opposite: The employees have a right to know unless there is a very important reason something must be kept secret. The decisions that management makes, and the reasoning behind them, is communicated regularly. You can go directly to management for more details and most likely all your questions will be answered. You can even push back on decisions if you disagree, and management will have an open mind and will adjust when they’ve made a mistake. 5. Remote work: The majority of employees work from home. Remote staff are given the tools needed to be successful, and are treated no differently than onsite staff.

Cons

1. Extreme expectations. Grant Street only hires the best of the best. Your co-workers will be doing amazing things and you’ll be expected to keep up. This is a very fast-paced, demanding environment and feeling overworked and overwhelmed is common. Hiring cannot keep up with the pace of work to be done. Burnout is a common reason for leaving. If you don’t have stellar performance you will quickly be let go. 2. Lack of guidance: The company philosophy is to give each employee extreme freedom & flexibility and then step back and see what they do with it. You will not be told what to do, or how to do it. For some people, this may be a “pro” if you instinctually know where to focus your efforts. But for many, they are lost. The company demands high performance but refuses to define or disclose how to meet the bar. Truly sink-or-swim. 3. Odd “conservative Christian” influence: If you work here, you will know the owners’ religion. You will learn that their decisions on company policy are heavily influenced by that religion. For example, the owners took advantage of the “Hobby Lobby” exemption to avoid covering birth control for employees due to religious reasons. Employee hiring focuses on fundamentalist universities (Hillsdale, Grove City) which indoctrinate students with extreme beliefs. Applicants are commonly asked political questions during the interview process. (To my knowledge, management does not discriminate based on religion and they are caring and respectful of all employees. Overall I feel their religious beliefs have been a positive influence on the company and its operation. Still, it can be uncomfortable when religion is discussed at company meetings, and the number of people hired from fundamentalist universities is concerning)

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Grant Street Group Response
7y
Thank you for your thoughtful and comprehensive feedback. I’m so pleased to hear that the number one reason you enjoy working at Grant Street Group is the people. Finding and keeping the right people has always been our top priority. You also mentioned that management cares about your experience at work, values your opinion and that you’ve always felt comfortable expressing any concerns that may arise, as you know those concerns will be taken seriously. I would like to first address your concern about what you describe as the owner’s “[o]dd ‘conservative Christian’ influence.” You add, “it can be uncomfortable when religion is discussed at company meetings.” To my knowledge, we have never discussed religion in a company meeting. If you are referring to the occasional mention of what I would describe as the universal principles that guide the company’s operating philosophy, then we are guilty as charged. But I don’t consider such principles “religious.” For example, when asked how we respond to ethical challenges, I explained in a company meeting we do so by reference to the natural law, once described as “the law written on the hearts of men,” and clarified by saying: “Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal.” This narrow application of a part of the Decalogue, in my opinion, is not a religious statement, it is simply a succinct and common articulation of certain truisms that all people of good will adhere to. In any case, I sincerely appreciate your acknowledgement that we “do not discriminate based on religion.” Doing so on the basis of religion, or any other criterion, would constitute a betrayal of our commitment to the spirit of Personalism. With respect to your comment about Hobby Lobby, please see our response here (https://tinyurl.com/GSGGD), which presents a more complete picture of the issue. You remark that “employee hiring focuses on fundamentalist universities… which indoctrinate students with extreme beliefs.” I must respectfully disagree. I believe your friends and co-workers who graduated from these universities would heartily disagree with your stereotype. Approximately 5% of our workforce comes from the institutions you name. I would venture to guess that we have a higher percentage (it’s not a statistic we track) from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, where, in fact, we have a much stronger recruiting focus. Regarding your comment about potentially political questions posed during the interview process, I urge you to drop us an anonymous tip revealing who is doing this, with examples, and I assure you that we will take swift corrective action. As someone who has been with us for more than three years and who, in your words, finds Grant Street “an amazing place to work,” your critical feedback is especially welcome. We will take it to heart and act upon it in a manner intended to advance our Mission, which, as you know, is formulated as follows: Foster an unparalleled experience of freedom and fairness at work as a vital part of a team of extraordinarily talented professionals who are passionately committed to doing outstanding work in the service of their colleagues and the client. - Myles Harrington, CEO, Grant Street Group
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