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Precision Strategies

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Precision Strategies Reviews

3.8

67% would recommend to a friend

(41 total reviews)
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Mike Spahn

99% approve of CEO

62% positive business outlook

Precision Strategies has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 41 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Precision Strategies employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media and communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

41 reviews
1.0
25 Jun 2016

So disappointing

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The only redeeming thing about this place is the non-partner staff. A lot have moved on, and the rest probably will, though. So, save yourself some time and professional distress and find another “progressive” company to work for.

Cons

I was excited to join this company—being run by three supposed “heroes” from the 2012 Obama Campaign (and in particular, to join a woman owned business). It turns out completely un-democratic ideals surround this workspace despite the company's democratic affiliations. It turned out to not only be a huge disappointment and a sad indictment on progressive, democratic leadership, but a daily professional nightmare. First of all, these folks will do work for anybody who pays them--period. I’m okay with campaign hands trying to cash in, but these folks have no ethical standards whatsoever. Partners never seem to be seeking how to improve client work or staff morale, just how to get by spending the least amount of money possible. Furthermore—whatever clients they do serve—corporate or campaign, for the most part seem to derive minimal value from Precision’s services. For corporate clients this is disappointing, but for the handful of clients serving noble causes in the political and nonprofit worlds, this is a complete abdication of any responsibility to serving the client’s best interest. Unsurprisingly, it would seem that these clients were so mesmerized by the “Obama magic” that they failed to realize that they weren’t deriving any value whatsoever until their fates were already sealed. These false confidences mask major inequities and the responsibility falls on the staff to attempt to repair these realities on a daily basis, fielding serious concerns from clients and mediating leadership’s lack of desire to substantively solve issues. But beyond the firm’s clients and the (lack of) value that clients are provided, the bigger problem was the workplace culture in DC. There is another review here listing the NY office instead of the DC office as the main office, which is not true. I understand that there is trust, respect, creativity and a fair amount of serious, thinking intelligence in the mostly-satellite NY office. The DC office may as well be a completely different company. In DC there's no energy, integrity or optimism. Obama 2012’s mantra of “respect, empower, include” could not be less appropriate here. I have never worked in an environment where employees were as disrespected, felt less autonomous, or felt more excluded - specifically, benefits are routinely skimped on, employees are worked to the bone, literally every day in overtime (without so much as a nod when partners enter the office in the morning, sometimes with active effort to avoid greeting employees they enter). It generally seems compensation has zero correlation with performance, and this leads to widespread discontent with high-performing and underpaid staff. What’s worse is that the partners refuse to learn from any of this despite remaining in business for years now, or rather, don’t care to learn from it as long as the owners are bringing home what are surely large paychecks. Unless partners need to get something particular from you, you may as well not exist. Employees at other companies have referred to the conditions and hours at Precision DC as "like a sweatshop". Toxic attitudes, continued unjust accusations with incorrect assumptions pit staff against each other in efforts to please impossible, irrational partner demands. The partners ask employees for input as a motion and then dismiss all efforts to make staff more comfortable and more productive even though it’s within their means, and are somehow able to inject fear and concern into even the most uncontroversial situations. Staff meetings cross all kinds of completely inappropriate personal-professional boundaries. If only the progressive clientele knew who they are actually doing business with. But more importantly, if only the staff could be spared the daily heartache and abuse.

1.0
25 Sept 2017

Soul-crushing mistake

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Most of the non-partner, non-operations staff are smart, kind, and hard-working people. The office is beautiful.

Cons

Management style is equal parts terror, humiliation, psychological manipulation, scapegoating, and verbal abuse. The DC partners are appallingly cruel, reckless bullies who treat most of their employees with contempt and disdain. The non-partner staff includes some wonderful, committed people, but the partners’ approach permeates every aspect of the business. It's impossible not to be affected by their abusive practices. The culture is also pretty toxic. Work-life balance is abysmal. People are really miserable, and they're open about that misery--not their fault, but definitely hard to be around.

1.0
14 Jul 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A handful of clients do great work that has a positive impact on the world.

Cons

If the ex-Precision staff group chat(s) answered this question as a collective, we’d urge anyone considering applying to do whatever required to not be in an position where you decide to accept a position with this company. That goes double for Black and Brown women specifically.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 41 Reviews

Glassdoor has 56 Precision Strategies reviews submitted anonymously by Precision Strategies employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Precision Strategies is right for you.