Pros
- WFH policy (2 days WFH before pandemic) - WFH through 2021 due to the pandemic, they really care about the staff's concerns and have taken the time to listen and communicate their back to office plans - Family atmosphere, senior leaders seem to care about their staff and make work conditions flexible when needed - I really admire how they handled the pandemic. When other agencies cut staff significantly, Citizen did all they could to avoid lay-offs and make employees feel secure. We weren't unscathed completely and they unfortunately did need to let go most of the folks from the newly developed healthcare team but other than that, the impact has been minor. -People at Citizen are truly nice people. If you're looking for just "nice" then reconsider my headline. If you need more out of your career than friendliness, then continue to the cons section.
Cons
Whew, where to begin: - Bait and Switch: During interviews, they sell you on the great company environment and how awesome the people are to work with (for the most part this is true). What they won't tell you is that account teams are severely understaffed and your workload won't match your job description. You'll either have a mid-senior level title and work below your level OR have a junior level title and work way above your level without the compensation to match. They're understaffed so it's a free for all and no one is held accountable for the lack of growth and development of team members. Unfortunately, if you're mid to senior level, you'll have it the worst because you won't have much opportunity to grow new skills since you'll be too busy backfilling for the lack of more junior talent. This will then impact your ability to further grow in your career so ultimately you'll be held back. - The agency is all about performative action: They present pretty decks with pretty words and strong ideas but there's never action or accountability. There were strong plans presented about making the agency people-first and promoting people when they were ready, strong D&I plans and trainings, strong plans to be more transparent, strong ideas to better address a lackluster culture, and other plans and promises that haven't been implemented. - Especially take caution if you're coming in at the middle management level (AS - Senior Director). I don't know why but I haven't seen anyone at this level get a promotion and the work they do is often overshadowed by senior level people who barely touch the day to day. Most end up leaving or they stay because they like how nice everyone is. - Lots of favoritism: If you're not besties with senior leadership (or at least in their line of sight), nothing you do at this agency will matter. The same people get celebrated and rewarded while the rest of the agency is a revolving door of talent or overworked and underappreciated employees. - Because everyone is so nice, they struggle to give constructive feedback in a timely and effective manner. This causes a lot of frustration with staff who a) were never told the level of expectation required or trained for the job at hand and b) were frequently told how good they've been doing.