- - Research Assistant Social & Scientific Systems Employee Review

Schedule Flexibility, Remote Work, Nice community of co-workers

Sometimes feels stagnant, I'm not sure I like the work that I do but no indictment on the organization itself

This company can be a good opportunity to pursue a career and make a contribution in public health research. Just don't get hired as a temp! SSS is classified as an "Employee Owned Company". Permanent employees have "employee owner" status and enjoy good benefits including a retirement benefit of company stock given at approximately 4% of salary each year. The executive team is fully focused on increasing stock price and it has risen dramatically in recent years, mostly due to acquisitions. This is especially nice if you have worked at SSS for many years and are nearing retirement (at which point your company stock is cashed-out), as is CEO Jim Lynch. As other reviewers mention, the work environment can be laid-back and friendly, depending on your project and your supervisor. If you're on a well-funded and staffed project, hours are pretty much 9-5 and you may even be able to "work" from home one day a week - Fridays are a favorite for that.

President Keven Beverly recently described the company's new growth plan in a general staff meeting. He stated a core element of future growth for this employee-owned company will be to increase the use of temporary employees and reduce growth in permanent (aka "employer-owner") staff. It's hard to see how this squares with the ideals - not to mention IRS requirements - of employee ownership.There are talented, dedicated, hard-working staff working as temps at the company, some for many years. That's years of no company health plan, no sick days, no vacations, no retirement contributions, and virtually no raises. Even the benefits manager in HR who hired me was a temp and she had been at the company for two years.