Pros
Nice offices, free food, coffee, and tea, good benefits, good starting salary out of college
Cons
Zero flexibility working remotely. It is understood CoStar does not want to allow hybrid or remote work full time in any matter post- covid and after the forced vaccinations in order to come into the office to keep your job in May 2021, however the fact that we successfully worked from home and that this point forward there is still zero flexibility is just selfish. Sometimes you are sick enough that you shouldn’t be coming in to the office infecting people, but well enough you could get your work done at home. We Dont want to waste sick time or vacation on days where work can be done we just can’t pull it together to be in office socializing and looking well. Sometimes things come up in life (we have lives— please imagine things you do during the day between 8-6pm that require you to not be at your desk) where this flexibility of working from home would be extremely helpful and if that capability was just allowed in certain instances without being shamed about it—- you would have kept a lot more people. This is absurd especially for high performers. If you are concerned people won’t work successfully from home, then fire those people. But don’t treat good hard working people like they can’t be trusted as if we are in highschool, This job pays well initially but raises are bare minimum 3% every year and there are noooo bonuses unless you are a manager. After 2-3 years here, you just feel like a robot who is not working a “real job” compared to all your friends who have jobs where they are treated as adults and not overly micromanaged. The antics here are comical and make you feel like you work for unethical and even evil/bad people. You are one of hundreds who are replaceable since they are always hiring and hounding down universities. Something about the culture here is very toxic. This is not a normal work environment and it is all tricked down from the sadistic and out of touch ceo. Meetings where he speaks are very cringe and expose how sadistic he truly is…. He celebrates competitors failures in a dark way and his comments hit hard when you are already questioning why you work here. He literally said “you can’t get pregnant if you are dead” in response to concerns from women who are hesitant to get the vaccine in April because of fertility concerns. Employees are asked to complete “engagement surveys” once a year. This is the only time we are able to express any feedback or concerns in a “safe” environment since speaking to HR will not get you a response for 2 weeks and when you do finally hear back their hands are tied and you are definitely added to a list of sorts. This survey asks for honest feedback and even specifically asks for feedback on upper/executive management. Do not be fooled. The executives use this to withhold bonuses to management and as an inaccurate reflection of how your manager “sells” costar to you. They use these surveys to judge good managers based on questions that do not reflect their management. There are questions that ask about your management, but those are not the results that are AWFUL and embarassing for a company of this size and value. The results every year are worse and worse and the executives never take any blame and soley blame management for not brainwashing us well enough to write good things about the ceo. TAKE YOUR OWN FEEDBACK. We are clear we like our managers, it is the upper management and c level executives that need to make changes. You can ignore all you want but it is only causing massive resentment and people to quit. You don’t want to work for a company who CONSTANTLY writes fake reviews on Glassdoor to counteract the endless negative ones but never takes any blame or feedback. Let alone acknowledgement. They have multiple times over the years asked employees themselves to write “good” reviews. It is clear from the bad reviews that we are all on the same page when it comes to complaints, but they gaslight the audience and reviewers with their responses. There is no acknowledgment of the concerns on here, however the ceo is VERY insecure about how he is honestly portrayed- hence the fake reviews and sassy responses from HR. This company’s current business model when it comes to the research department is not efficient for keeping people here long term. The demographic is young adults under 30 mostly who are looking desperately for their next out but scared to leave the decent pay. It is rare to stay longer than 5 years. To be honest I love the industry and I love the people that work here and I could see myself staying for years and years, had the ceo decided he would start TRUSTING his employees and allowing us to live more flexible lives instead of having to be at a desk for 8 hours a day- clocked in and out for every second. What makes it extra miserable is that everything is metrics based, yet they are extremely stingy when it comes to “coding time” that was wasted on extra projects, meetings, or anything that takes us away from our daily metrics. There is no motivation to do extra good work when there is no MONETARY INCENTIVE. Research is the biggest department and we all for the most get paid between 60-70k and thats anyone who has been here from 1-4 years. After a while you will recognize your worth and be willing to leave for a job that might even potentially pay less, but where you won’t feel replaceable and where their is way more room to grow.