History Associates Reviews

This company seems to specialize in drafting policies that discourage (at worst destroy) any sense of professional development, morale, and fulfillment in its employees. The upper management is made of men better suited for a classroom than a board room. They’re fine historians but have little to no training on best business practices. As much as this company thrives on teamwork, the upper management relishes in keeping to their elite, misguided boys club. The pay is low. Really, really low. The company says that their salary is on par with the professional and regional average. But, the company says a lot of things. Like how standing will kill you, and that’s how the air should smell… In reality, the cost of living in the DC-area gets more expensive each year and the company refuses to catch up. They’ll ignore any reports on the rising costs of living as blatantly as they do health warnings about cigarettes and diet soda. Negotiating any sort of raise or promotion is almost a non-starter. Management is convinced that you’re trying to get something for nothing, so these conversations play out less like a conversation about your professional trajectory and company contributions and more like an interrogation of why you should even be there in the first place. I could go on, but there’s not much to say other than what I and other former employees have already written. The company has created high stress environment with very little pay off. Everyone, from the newest employee to the most seasoned historian, complains about the abuse they’ve endured--it’s a wonder how anyone stays.

The pay isn't great, offset only partially by decent benefits, and to add insult to injury it's located in a terribly expensive area. However the worst part about working there is management, especially the most senior management. Honestly, at times it's like being trapped in some sort of alternate Dilbert universe, except not at all funny. None of the management are trained at being managers. They are all history PhDs, whose management model seems to be some antiquated graduate history department. Most are seriously short on "people skills," and HR is effectively nonexistent (the person you go to for advice and to air grievances is the same one who is responsible for firing you, and appears downright contemptuous of young intellectuals). Many are seriously passive-aggressive. The most awkward part is having to hear long-time employees, many held in high regard, suffer through responding to the CEO as he wanders the halls, asking people if they've "made any money for me today." Seriously, no joke. It's a highly collaborative work environment, but the CEO hates seeing people gathered in groups or talking in hallways (it's not a huge building), and likes to tell people to return to their "carrels" and generally act as if his employees are hapless graduate students, rather than paid professionals. He also insults people freely and publicly, and it's just awkward and unprofessional all around. He, and perhaps some of the other managers, are also absolutely paranoid that you're out to cheat the company. Those attitudes just trickle down and poison everything, and since some people draw his ire more than others (he definitely plays favorites), it creates a horrible work environment. The level of stress and low morale here is unbelievable, and unnecessary.