Interesting Projects, Mediocre Compensation, Terrible Culture - Anonymous employee Applied Research Associates Employee Review

Work life balance Flexibility Benefits

Pay could be better but for starting salary is good enough

The pay (after negotiation) is comparable to some other offers that I got from other companies

- If you want work life balance, this is NOT the place for you. You’re expected to bring in externally contracts to cover your salary. While they do allocate hours for contract proposal writing, most of the time, it’s never enough. You’ll end up working overtime and during weekends most of the time. - If you enjoy doing research, this is NOT the place for you. During my interviews, I asked how long a typical project would be, they all said it’s usually a few years. But the fact is, it all depends on the clients. If the clients say stop working on a project, you have to stop. Within the last year, a lot of their contracts got terminated, so people has to stop working and no pay. - If you enjoy doing rigorous research, this is NOT the place for you. People here tend to oversell their skills and knowledge to sell themselves to the clients or government agencies, so they could get the contracts. If they sell successfully and get the contracts, but then there is no time to really learn the necessary skills. Sloppy work has to be rushed because of the clients’ demands. - If you want sick leaves or maternity leaves, this is NOT the place for you. They do have PTO, but it’s not enough. Most people took unpaid time off for months when they had kids.