Research Associate II - Research Associate II CoStar Group Employee Review

3.0
21 Nov 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Honestly, the coworkers I've made at CoStar are some of the best I've ever encountered! Such a young office vibe!! Most are in their 20s to early 30s. -True Story: Directors,Managers, Trainers are actually nice it's just that HQ in DC makes them do things even they don't want to do. Director of Bay Area Research is the nicest and sweetest person ever! If he were CEO no one would ever quit and researchers would be super happy! -Decent pay -Company pays for your parking in the garage -Sponsored Events: SD Padres, Del Mar Races etc. -Easy to fake a 2 hour lunch... Just say you "forgot" to clock-out or don't save your clock-out

Cons

LORD HAVE MERCY! Where do I even begin? -First of all, THE METRICS! Who in the world even placed them in charge?!obviously they have never had a portfolio. Constantly changing metrics so you can't keep up. (10) 2 minute calls...next time 45 minute total talk time... You know we're just going to super long messages and circle the phone options 100 times.... -As a research you have to ANNOY the living daylights out of brokers, property managers, county assessor personnel by calling them 20000x a day. -HEADS UP HQ: 110% of us workers are cheating... DUH! As if it's not obvious enough. Leave us alone to do web updates. Brokers hate us calling.... That's why we circle the phone options for hella long and pretend to be talking even though no one is even on the other line ha ha just so we can meet the metrics! -All of the researchers learned how to game the system from our seniors and even managers because they know they're in hot water if their team doesn't make their numbers. -All the employees gather around the break room to discuss which one of us is quitting next. Once one of us gets hired elsewhere we know there's light at the end of the tunnel.... We mostly like our managers though, that's why we leave one-by-one to be considerate. Company has a high turnover, I can't even name one coworker that I know that wants to stay until retirement. Only the people who have worked there for super long now and have families to take care of are stuck. I feel bad because they're all so nice.

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CoStar Group Response
9y
We’re genuinely surprised by the behavior you’re describing and know from the extensive data and quality assurance efforts we perform that what you’re describing is very rare. We’d appreciate learning more and encourage you to reach out to hrdepartment@costar.com or a manager you’re comfortable speaking with so that we may help improve your work environment.

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Cons

Working at CoStar Group was one of the most emotionally exhausting sales environments I’ve experienced. The culture on my team was extremely male-dominated, hyper-competitive, and very much “sink or swim.” Collaboration was talked about constantly by management, but in reality the environment rewarded internal competition, territorial behavior, favoritism, and politics over actual teamwork. As one of the few women on the sales team, I often felt isolated and unsupported. Instead of mentorship or coaching, the expectation was basically: “figure it out yourself.” New hires were thrown into difficult situations with inconsistent training and unrealistic expectations, while certain reps appeared to receive stronger books of business, better territories, or more support than others. It created resentment and a toxic atmosphere where coworkers often felt more like competitors waiting for you to fail than teammates. The turnover was incredibly high, which should have been a red flag. Management pushed aggressive quotas and nonstop pressure while failing to address morale, burnout, or fairness concerns. There was also an unhealthy obsession with leaderboard culture and internal politics that made the workplace feel stressful every single day. What disappointed me most was that I genuinely believed in the product and enjoyed helping clients. Many customers loved working with me, and I built strong relationships. But internally, the environment became mentally draining. The constant competitiveness, lack of support, and toxic culture eventually outweighed the positives of the role.

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