administrator

referrals and assessment manager

proctor

research associate

research assistant

Westat

Westat has been rigidly resisting adaptation to competitive markets for federal and state/local funding as well as failing to innovate internally (innovations come through acquiring outside firms with innovators, whose new ideas then get squelched), and failing to understand competitive labor markets and/or build internal strength through good management practices. As a result, their middle tier of technical staff is constantly leaving, because younger people come then leave (no mentoring, no career ladder) while higher-ups prefer to hire people who are already names in their fields. Proposals thus become increasingly expensive at a very bad time for organizations to be insisting that clients should pay for excessive quality beyond what's needed to serve client needs. 

The leadership is ancient (the CEO and Board members fall asleep in meetings) and there are way too many VPs and Directors (nearly meaningless titles). Decisions are top-down and again very rigid -- any pushback is really personally resented. They have been losing business first steadily and now steeply, and too late have brought in the wrong new people at the top instead of listening to the really terrific people they have at other levels. They hired a new top guy for business development who knows nothing about business development but is happily hiring his own cronies (again at top levels and tip-top salaries, with no project work) while beginning to lay off mid-level staff who have project work and steady billable hours. They've also cut back on bonuses.

In short, they are doubling down on an outdated and maladapted business model which totally lacks transparency. It's likely that the top people will get out with lots of money because of the ESOP (employee-owned stock in the company) structure while the people actually doing the work but of a newer vintage will be hung out to dry. People who keep their heads down working on their projects with clients they have cultivated will end up screwed. Many of the best people I've worked with here have already left, and I'll be next!

I worked for three years as a field interviewer in southern California. I put about 25,000 miles a year on my car and earned above minimum wage but not a livable income. This is really a part-time job, no matter what they might promise about getting additional cases or traveling to other regions. Everyone takes unemployment between seasons, something that probably won't be mentioned in the interview. Westat HR won't tell you that you DON'T have to take your additional $4 /hr as a 401k contribution but that you can opt to take it as cash. (Look this up before you sign anything!) 

This job took a major toll on my health, including weight gain, headaches, high blood pressure, and increased sedentary lifestyle (lots of driving, sitting with respondents and more sitting in front of a computer to do reports, often 10 to 12 hrs of sitting in a day.) 

Westat, not unlike the other BIG SURVEY companies, push interviewers to convert refusals through repeated contacts (15 or more) or outright manipulation, a practice that I believe is unethical and does not yield quality data. Management rewards high producing interviewers (refusal converters) many of whom achieve their number by using unethical and sometimes illegal tactics. Management does not want to know specifically what these people do to get their completes, quality control makes phone calls to respondents but they do not accompany interviewers into the field--not that it would matter, as these techniques won't be used while anyone is watching. You need a strong stomach for this kind of work and the ability to ignore other people's boundaries (i.e. No stops meaning No). The longer you hold the position the more pressure you'll receive to engage in questionable tactics.

This wasn't me, so I was a solid interviewer, but not a "super star." I had undergrad and grad training in social research methods (which separated me from most of my co-workers) and found that I simply could not violate the ethics of my profession. At some point, if you decide to pursue this kind of work, you'll have to make a similar decision. Good luck.

For context, I've worked at westat for a decade as a salaried employee. Firld staff experiences can be different and I cant speak to those. 

Pros
Wonderful benefits.
Flexibility.
Some great coworkers.
Employee owned firm.
Interesting work (sometimes) but, they sometimes hire based on the skills they want and not necessarily what you'll work on everyday. It depends on the study requirements and which projects you are on.
I've had some really wonderful experiences here. I've had some great coworkers and really interesting work.

Cons
Some unbearable senior management who is not disaplined if they are friend with the study area directors or VPs.
Only 6 days off per year (holiday leave- anything else is vacation).
Conflict avoidant culture.
Layoffs the past few years (like many research firms that rely on gov. funding).
It's really hard to climb the ladder without a Ph.D. or someone in your department that fights hard for you that has a lot of pull. There's some cliques. If you're not in them you don't get work.
VERY little diversity among higher level leadership.
There is a rigid culture from those that have been there from the beginning that fight making real change happen.
Your experience depends on your supervisor and your department.

Advice to Management: 
Treat people more equally. Assess them the same for similar mistakes and similar work.
Provide some training to new supervisors. They need more awareness and training on how to treat/deal with junior staff. Think of new systems for complains. They have HR representatives that deal with each department and so, relationships develop. Additionally, there is a lot of favoritism among higher level staff and they are the ones dealing with your issues so its hard to feel safe talking about issues. A better system is needed.

I was hired to work at that NAEP IT Helpdesk.

During my time there I had a mental health break down, one of the worst of my working career. The conditions were such that we didn't have the most basic supplies. We were treated as disposable. Never told when the project would end but made to promise that we would take zero time off and not look for a job. That form of governing employees is unethical. They should be helping us transition in and out. But we're nothing but automotons to them.

The manager whom everyone thought was so great refused to sign my time card so I had to knock off an hour that I did work that week and lost an hours pay. One hour doesn't seem like a lot for a 6 month contract but it was a part of their pattern of mistreatment of me. They would complain that I did too much work. Not email me back when I emailed them. 

The website literally did not work. We were fielding dozens of calls a day for two months before the website began working and even then it would break down several times a week. The stress was intense. No communication, no training, no support. I had a mental health break. It destroyed morale and affected me at work and outside of work. I gained a lot of weight even though I couldn't afford to eat much while employed there.

The pay was below living wage so sometimes my co-workers would ask for a lunch here or there. The morale was so bad after a while almost no one used even half of their potential. Everything was negative feedback, we were constantly treated as if they'd never have to see us again so it didn't matter.

Management was treated the same way by their managers so they passed the buck off to us. All but one temp worker was a person of color. We were forced through circumstance to endure these types of assignments. 

To be fair I do think management wanted better for themselves and for us but when none of us earn enough to live with the basics and don't have resources given to us by the company, its a ticking bomb. This experience lead me to quit the IT profession. After talking with other women who left IT, I think my decision was right.

I have been working for Westat as a part time remote Field Interviewer for four years, currently on the PATH study.  In that time, I have seen many FIs come and go in our region.  This is because the job requires someone who is confident, can "sell" the study to skeptical people, can work responsibly with no direct supervision and can handle difficult situations such as rejection, angry people or filthy houses.  Shy or lazy people don't last long.  

A typical work day is about a half hour at home and four hours driving to and from assignments, making contacts and conducting interviews.  In a typical work week, I work on three days, mostly weekends and evenings but this varies depending on the work load.   There is more work at the beginning of the month after new cases are released than at the end.  There are a few months every year with no work (Great for vacations.)   

Much of my work time is spent driving (mileage reimbursed and hours on the clock).  I listen to music or news, nice to have Sirius.  When a respondent is doing a self directed interview that often takes an hour, I can read or do other quiet activities.  A small amount of work time is spent doing unpleasant things such as cold calls.

Each week there is a report call with your supervisor to discuss cases or problems.  If you need to ask a question, you can contact them almost anytime.  I've had many supervisors, all good in their own ways.  There is almost no contact with co-workers except at training.  There is other oversight however.  Recordings are made of your interviews, they use GPS to track where you are and you are expected to maintain stats (hours per case) that are average or better.  As long as you are doing what is expected in an efficient manner, there are no problems.

This job will not regularly pay bills, is good for retired people or others with very flexible hours.

The recruiters are NOT TRANSPARENT with the job description,
They never tell you during the hiring process or during training:

1) No benefits at all: you do not have paid sick time, vacations, etc.
2) No insurance of any kind. If you get sick----sorry no check ;)
3) Everything is paid in an hourly basis, every week.
4) If something happened to your car while you are working for them----sorry! next field interviewer please.

4) They have a quota that you HAVE to FULFILL: a) working part time at least TWO interviews, b) working full time 3 or 4 interviews
If you do not fulfill this they start to threatening you saying "I do not want to let you go". If you make let's say 5 or 6 interviews in a week they will love you, BUT if the next week you only did 1 or zero they hate you (They want production every week, not in average). You expect that people will love to participate for the study or for the $90.00 that the survey offers, some people are feisty, some neighborhoods are not safe, some houses are unclean, people drunk, high or smoking like crazy.

5) You are disposable, their field interviewers turnover is between 3 and 4 months.

7) In my experience, they never told me: we are looking for people who "loved" to work "only on evenings and weekends", during summer time is not so harsh, but during winter they want to be knocking doors after dark in ghettos, risking your life and your vehicle.

8) If you do not know the field interviewer job is: you receive the paper folders (and files) of every case, basically no one is expecting you, you need to go to every address and asking the people 18 year or older if they want to take the survey that offer them $90.00. Some people said, it's too good to be truth. The candidates supposedly received from Westat an invitation letter to participate, around 10% of the people read the letter, most of them don't know what you're talking about.

GOOD LUCK.

The Field Supervisor I was assigned to complained constantly. Then, they would sigh dramatically and cut you off when you tried to talk to them about your cases, raise their voice , talk over you-then, they complain that the project management is blaming the field staff for the project's failure. WOW! This is not what you want to hear from your supervisor. Shortly after the start, there were layoffs and budgetary cut backs. Those working in the field were being thrown under the bus for mistakes made by people in charge. They overhired and flew everyone to their home office for two days of training (after online, at home work). Even during training equipment wasn't working, software wasn't working, so many things were wrong. Once in the field, you were expected to stay within your hours while at the same time be available 24/7 if a respondent wanted to interview  at a specific time. So, basically you give up your life till the project is finished. There were days when I didn't get lunch or a break because I was going from one interview to the next. We had to adjust our time to sheets reflect meals and breaks because "the government requires (us) to make sure you get your breaks". Unfortunately, it didn't get any better. Field Supervisors began to turn on field staff. I didn't really need to hear all the blame Project Managers threw at the supervisors who in turn threw it at us. We were doing our best, but it never seemed to be good enough. All the negativity made it hard to stay positive and do the job. Work conditions are harsh because you are cold calling pre-selected participants. It's a hard job. Lack of support and unhappy supervisors made it harder.

Westat is a great place for working part-time remotely. They should train all personal on diversity within the company. There is no transparency when given direction, as far as e-mails and scheduling are concerned when you are working remotely. I have been working for them for years, however, there is still favoritism. Many in upper management are very condescending and are very disrespectful. When you address it, you are labeled as a trouble maker and are targarted. I did some research and saw that they had a lawsuit against them in the past, this should be revisited because what they were suited for, they are still doing the same thing only on a different level. You are held back from working on the higher paying projects, put on the lower ones sometimes without much work due to the favoritism. A lot of upper management should be retrained with working with people they managed or just plainly let go. It's a double standard working for Westat. I only enjoy the flexible schedule they provide and the weekly paychecks which helps me pay for school. You hardly get a pay raise, and if you are lucky enough to get on a higher-paying project you are good Otherwise don't count on consistent raises. They don't acknowledge personal health situations or sympathy when dealing with a loved one. (Everything is documented by my physician)  My stats feel due to my taking time off work and I was put to a level 3 which means you are the last person to get any hours. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
I love working at Westat, I pretty much can decide my own hours, can work anywhere from 20 hours to 40, just depending on what’s going on. A lot of my job is driving and I enjoy that, love meeting new people and getting to see them  every year, basically get to be in their lives and see how they are growing up. I work in the Path study which is about the health of smokers and non smokers so we track their health over the years. I have one meeting a week with the supervisor and if all goes well that will be all. Don’t sit at a desk or work in a gas station so I am pretty happy lol.  I’m sure I will retire from Westat, I am 61 now and don’t plan to slow down anytime soon.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Getting some folks to do the survey with us is sometimes stressful because until they say they don’t want to do it we have to keep trying. Some will just avoid you and you’re not sure if they are avoiding you or are just busy and you keep missing them or it’s a bad time for them so you have to keep trying.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I mostly work alone in the field so I really like that

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Look at my cases, decide what town I’m going to for that day. Study those cases and then call the household or go by there by mapping out where you will be going for the day. Getting your supplies together and heading out for the day. 
Hopefully you will complete one or two surveys.

I do not know if Westat still does this, but when I was a supervisor of phone interviewers, Westat would offer cash incentives to interviewers but structured conditions to make it impossible for interviewers to get the incentive. 
 
Specifically, as a survey project was approaching the end of its data collection phase, and if the production rate (completed interviews) was not up to snuff, Westat would offer interviewers cash incentives to work a certain minimum number of hours per week until the end of the data collection phase.  But as the end date approached, and as interviewers worked more hours and production increased, more and more interviewers would be laid off; they were unable therefore to fulfill the condition of working until the very end.  Or, for those interviewers who were still working until the end, their working hours were restricted (since the production crunch no longer applied) to under the minimum required to fulfill the condition for the incentive. 
 
Thus, interviewers were working themselves out of a job as production went up; that practice is probably true in every survey research organization, not just Westat.  But what I found objectionable was the offering of incentives that Westat knew they wouldn't have to actually pay out.  I subsequently worked at NORC as a field interviewer and felt well treated--no tricks.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Administrator 20 salaries reported	$15.41 per hour
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Research associate 10 salaries reported	$82,930 per year
Research assistant 7 salaries reported	$52,000 per year

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