1. Ignorant and arrogant mid-level management people. They have not even the least respect for the employees and talk down to them the way generals to soldiers in countries with strict hierarchy. When serious mistakes were caught in the analytical plan for a Federal study, the response was not to figure out whether they were right or wrong. The health care scientist's response was that the audience would not be able to find out as they lack the knowledge and insight and that you should not talk to anyone else about this in the company. All he cared was how to cover it, even though it could be easily fixed. They refused to utilize the talents both inside and outside the company.
It was really hard if one truly values scientific integrity and if one really cares how what he does affects the world, because the results of these analyses will form the basis of decision making by CMS. It is true that these people have experience and knowledge, but they obviously lack the knowledge and expertise to direct every aspect of these analyses. In such situations, they should seek advice from professionals and not rely on the scattered pieces of information they googled and their limited and archaic knowledge.
I should have long realized this, as the managers were 25 minutes late for the interview. No explanation, no apology, as if the job-seekers were looking up to them for a piece of bread.
2. Strange culture. When we first got to the company, an employee came to each of us and told us to "behave well" at a meeting the CEO would attend. Without clear clue as to what made good behavior, we had our mouths shut throughout the meeting. In fact, we kept silent in all meetings when there were people in the company and outside the group.
People were discouraged from discussing their work in the name of "security" concerns, even though they were in the same group and working on similar projects and the discussion was merely methodological and did not involve data,
3. Efficiency and quality of work are no where assessed or appreciated. Employees visiting Facebook and texting all day are favored if they show 100% loyalty.
4. Lack of communication between the CEO and the employees.
