Having to pay to attend the holiday party has left a sour taste in many people's mouths. Like everyone else has mentioned, ZAI does not pay well. Of course they pay according to federal guidelines based on your title aligned with the federal labor rates. The secret is that they get contracts at a very low bid, ergo, you get paid less and they increase their profits by paying you maybe 40% of what they are billing the government. Instead of explaining the low pay away by saying that they pay you the minimum wage for your title, they should look into ways to pay more especially since there is no real raises, no bonuses and the medical coverage is crazy expensive. I think the responses from corporate seem to ignore the fact that people are more informed and understand the business, they just don't like it. I did not seek ZAI out as an employer, they acquired the contract from my former employer who paid me a lot better and had very good medical coverage.
Other than that, there is absolutely no room for growth I guess unless you get a kudo. I did not know that kudos resulted in rewards, I will bring this up at the next meeting so that everyone knows and not just a select few. I guess this is an example of the clique culture that others have discussed.