S/O Best and Worst Federal Agencies

[Anonymous]

WTF does it matter if they only take vets? rarely take civilians! I swear that govt just became code for getting everything for FREE and for being lazy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DOJ is....ok

DOJ has pretty high morale but we tend to compare ourselves to BigLaw rather than to federal agencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work at a DoD agency at the pentagon and it's pretty bad. Morale is soooo low. Military folks throw civilians under the bus and expect us to do more with less. RIFs are planned but no one is saying more than that so the rumor mill gets going. Civilians not getting bonuses or raises while watching every O5/6 that wants to return as a nonsupervisory 15. No telework. No flexibility. When military gets a 4 day weekend, you can be forced to take leave since your office is closed. It's just bad all around even though it's a smart, dedicated bunch of civs. We work a lot with OSD and a lot of the civ/mil issues don't exist there but I think the quality depends on which group you are with. Lots if turnover with who we deal with up there as we get close to an election.

Most annoying crap ever when you watch some incompetent O-5 think he DESERVES to be a GS-15 when he retires. Thankfully, my boss in a DON command put a stop to it. Before that, it was a revolving door of retired Officers and it was completely screwing the people who actually deserved the promotion.

Honestly, I think once you're a retired Officer, you shouldn't be allowed to work for the government anymore. You got your pension so go do something else.

Before anyone says I hate Officers, I was/am an Officer.

[Anonymous]

Pension plus a high stepping 15? Sounds pretty darn good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pension plus a high stepping 15? Sounds pretty darn good.

Some military retirees are leeches on the federal government.

I know an O-6 who "was the right fit" for a job position he created before retiring. The office of 150 people never had the position until he created it right before retiring. Then, he retires and gets hired into the position one month later. Now he's a GS15 and pulling his 90K or so O-6 pension. On top of that, he gets dual receipt for VA disability.

He'll retire with over 100k in pension payments when he leaves the government for good.

I find it utterly amusing when I hear him talk about welfare leeches and people who live on the government dole.

[Anonymous]

National gallery of art. Seems like a dream, lots of smart talent and dedication but....

PhDs who are gs-9
Top management position nearly all occupied by the same people for 20-25 years or more.

Byzantine administration designed to stifle any attempt at change
Certain departments have terrible track record promoting women and minorities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:National gallery of art. Seems like a dream, lots of smart talent and dedication but....

PhDs who are gs-9
Top management position nearly all occupied by the same people for 20-25 years or more.

Byzantine administration designed to stifle any attempt at change
Certain departments have terrible track record promoting women and minorities

All but your last bullet point apply to all Fed agencies. Most Fed agencies in my experience are better these days at the diversity part.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate the comment about how top managers sit in their spots for 20-25 years. That's very true of my agency. There is so little opportunity for upward mobility right now. When it becomes available, personal politics are everything. Qualifications are the least of it. I've seen agencies where office directors and deputy directors are much less qualified for their positions than their subordinates are. There is no transparency in hiring so you have no ability to plan for an upward move. If they want to bring a friend in, they just write the announcement to fit the friend and it's done. That's a prohibited personnel practice but it's how all hiring is done within the Fed govt.

[Anonymous]

Worked with 20+ agencies in ten years of government consulting, and I can honestly say I haven't seen one that I'd want to work for. Worst by far was FEMA, although the entire Leg Branch gives them a run for their money. Least dysfunctional is probably GSA.

[Anonymous]

I think the Best Places to Work list is pretty accurate. NRC and it has always been high on the list (although it slips every year, it's still higher than many). DoD is good in some areas, not as good in others. It is very dependent on your area. SSA is pretty good for some, worse for others. VA sucks. NOAA is okay, but I think they have money problems. NIST is pretty good. USPTO is good, but some people don't fit into their way of doing things. HHS is good in some areas, not as much in others. NIH also. I think NIH is better for super high level Doctors and PhDs. Really, the large agencies are very supervisor dependent. You'll meet people who love and hate them. No one I know wants to work for DoE, HUD, DHS, or VA.....even those that are currently working there SSA seems to be having issues, but I think their biggest issue is that a 13 is a supervisory position so it's hard to move up.

You'll meet people at each of these agencies that love or hate them.

[Anonymous]

Civs should near work at an service agency. They get screwed every time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
...
I can also attest to the fact that NASA is an excellent place to work. My coworkers and I all agree with the assessment that it is the best place to work in the federal government. Morale here is high and people do not want to leave. I've know many people who have decided to take better offers at other agencies and the vast majority of them come back...some have worked for years to get back and when they do, they are so glad to be back.

OK, those secondary results have marginally improved people's lives. But what about space exploration advances?

Aww, now you're just being petulant. The NASA post gave a lot of important, game changing advances regardless of how the integrate into space and earth exploration.

As for federal agencies, DoN depends largely on which base/organization you're at, but as for R&D, they're making it too difficult to do anything. The best scientists and engineers are leaving, and they can't fire the bad ones, so you get a build up of dead weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Worked with 20+ agencies in ten years of government consulting, and I can honestly say I haven't seen one that I'd want to work for. Worst by far was FEMA, although the entire Leg Branch gives them a run for their money. Least dysfunctional is probably GSA.

Really??? I work at GSA (only been at one other agency) and I am shocked to hear someone say that. Wow, it must be really bad out there!

I'm sure NASA is a great place to work because it's generally all super smart people doing something they are probably pretty passionate about. Few Federal agencies can make that same claim

[Anonymous]

No one mentioned the CFPB - I heard they were the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pension plus a high stepping 15? Sounds pretty darn good.

Some military retirees are leeches on the federal government.

I know an O-6 who "was the right fit" for a job position he created before retiring. The office of 150 people never had the position until he created it right before retiring. Then, he retires and gets hired into the position one month later. Now he's a GS15 and pulling his 90K or so O-6 pension. On top of that, he gets dual receipt for VA disability.

He'll retire with over 100k in pension payments when he leaves the government for good.

I find it utterly amusing when I hear him talk about welfare leeches and people who live on the government dole.

Yep, I've know several people who done similar things.