“Think Twice Before Accepting A Job Offer Here”—Glassdoor Reviews Reveal Toxic Culture At Ogg DA Office
Harris County prosecutors might be happier cleaning up shit than working for District Attorney Kim Ogg, according to an analysis of workplace rankings from Glassdoor, a national company that helps job seekers find jobs that are a good fit for them based on the experiences of others who have worked at an organization.
Based on over 3,000 employee responses, Houston’s primary waste management company received 4 stars–and nearly nine in ten employees (89%) approve of the company’s CEO. Meanwhile, under Kim Ogg’s leadership, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office garnered just 2.6 stars. Just 7% of employees approve of the District Attorney’s leadership.
Diving deeper into the reviews of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, one finds that employee ratings of senior management—2.3 stars—is the biggest factor driving down the score:
Among the oft-repeated critiques of the office—and DA Ogg’s leadership—are reviews that highlight a difficult work environment and poor management:
“Think twice before accepting a job offer here … This place has the worst work environment ever, and caters to the incompetent and lazy.”
“Bad environment. Very political. Wouldn’t do it again.”
“Leadership is horrible, staggering incompetence.”
“Toxic work culture.”
“Terrible organization”
“Nepotism runs rampant and they keep or rehire people that get caught breaking the law or are incompetent.”
“Hostile work environment.”
“It is mismanaged beyond comprehension, and generally acts as a political PR firm first, second, and third … Replace all senior management and re-tool the hiring process completely.”
“Every employee should be given proper training. Every supervisor should also be supervised. Ask yourself why you have such a high turnover rate?”
To be fair, if you dig deep enough through the digital pile, there are a handful of 5-star reviews—though mostly from former interns. Obviously, interns who pass through the office for a summer have a different set of pros and cons than professionals who work in the office. None of these interns are writing glowing reviews about management. They are just happy to “meet practicing attorneys.” And at the top of the list of cons for being an intern are having to “pay to park.” But still, a 5-star review is a 5-star review—especially when there are precious few to hang your hat on.
How does Kim Ogg’s leadership stack up against other prosecution offices in the state? Not favorably. For example, just next door in Montgomery County, the office enjoys a 5-star rating (albeit with far fewer employees weighing in):
But the other big county prosecutor offices across Texas look more like Brett Ligon’s 4 star Montgomery County office than Ogg’s 2.6 star office. Fort Bend and Dallas Counties boast 4.6 stars. Travis County squeaks out 4 stars. Bexar County has 3.8 stars. This makes Harris County an extreme outlier when it comes to employee (dis)satisfaction.
Houston Watch also investigated the possibility that the difference in rankings has less to do with Ogg’s leadership and more to do with something weird in the water in Harris County causing government lawyers and paralegals to dislike the office where they work. The closest parallel to the District Attorney’s office is the County Attorney’s office, which handles civil cases on behalf of Harris County. That office enjoys 4.3 stars and 81% of employees say they’d recommend the workplace to a friend (compared to 2.6 stars and 29% for Ogg’s office).
Houston Watch did not reach out to District Attorney Ogg for comment. It appears she’s already overwhelmed trying to keep up morale among her staff.