All details below only reflect my personal opinions and experiences working for this company. I felt that the CEO created a culture of fear and was extremely disrespectful towards employees. In my estimation, the CEO used a combination of a strict authoritarian management style coupled with severe micromanagement. Long work hours were mandatory for salaried, non-contract staff, often 60 hours or more per week, including weekends. To be fair, it was discussed during the interview process that occasional long hours and weekend work would be needed, although it was not specified just how often that would be. Praise or thanks for all this extra work was rarely given to me. In fact, I was personally routinely made to feel that I did not take the work seriously enough and did not accomplish enough, despite the long hours. I witnessed this same attitude displayed by the CEO towards other employees as well.
I also witnessed and experienced disrespectful tones and behavior leveled by the CEO towards myself and other employees. Threats to be written up for relatively minor infractions were commonplace. In my experience, employees were often made to feel that the CEO did not care about them and that they could be easily replaced, due to the CEO stating such things in company meetings that I personally witnessed on multiple occasions. I enjoy a challenge and stayed for as long as I did because the opportunity to be the "number 2" at a rapidly growing government contractor was too good to pass up. But I left the company because I could no longer tolerate the lack of respect and the behavior of the CEO.
When I worked there, remote work was not allowed, nor was the use of comp time, although it is possible that has changed since I left. Again, this is all my opinion of the company based on my time there. I make no claims regarding any specific policies that the CEO employed, any and all of these could have changed in the time since my absence. I only represent my personal opinions and experiences in dealing with the CEO during my employment.
