Cordial work environment - Program Officer The Pragma Corp Employee Review

Working for something you believe in. Able to see the results of the companies work directly

CEO is hard to please

If you live in NoVa, the Falls Church location makes commuting a breeze. Parking is also free.

My experience and observation is that the culture of Pragma is harmful to women. Yes, I said it: women. In this #MeToo age, it is hard to understand how I could be blocked for sharing my opinion on what I see as sexist behavior by men in powerful positions at my former workplace and have that blocked from being posted. But I find myself revising this posting yet again, so we will see. At Pragma I experienced an environment where everyone is expected to work 24/7 and the flexibility that is needed for all staff, and often for women who are mothers and primary caretakers in their family, was sorely and glaringly lacking. In addition, in my experience and observation, we women were expected to do our jobs as well as outside tasks like ordering bathroom cleaning supplies, printing paper for the President and VP, ordering office supplies, and making lunch reservations for the senior staff. Yet we weren't personal assistants and I can tell you from my experience none of this was part of my job description or remotely what I expected I would be doing when I agreed to work there. There were no senior level female staff when I worked there so it's hard to know if someone at a higher level would have experienced this treatment. Aside from a 'boys club' atmosphere, I found that the President is so odious to work for, his personality so unappealing, and his management style so chaotic, that the stench of his bad behavior colored nearly every interaction from his level on down. As far as I could tell, no one liked this man, but he has been kept by the owners because he brings in the money. You know what else he brings? Low corporate morale, lack of esteem, collegiality, and teamwork. Yet, workers were expected to give their heart and soul to ensure the company's viability. Working nights and weekends, and being available around the clock were expectations, not exceptions. Comp time was unheard of, though if you stayed until 2am to work on a proposal, you might be told to "come in later" the next day as reward for your dedication. I imagine once upon a time Pragma was not a bad place to work and indeed there are a few people (who aren't related to the owning family) who have worked there for many years. Personally, I found the place to be a revolving door and my impression was that management had deluded itself into thinking they needed to find employees who were the right "fit", i.e., who could tolerate the aforementioned issues. If you make a deal with the devil then you can't really complain about the fire and brimstone, and this is what I think was done when the President was hired to his current role.