Reply to What federal agencies are the best to work for?

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[quote=Anonymous]Depends on what you're looking for. At USAID, people are passionate about their work, so that makes it an overall happier place than some of the other agencies I've worked for. In terms of work life balance, that really varies so much based on your office. My office doesn't involve a lot of overtime, but I know people who are logged into their work email at all times and are expected to be available at pretty much any hour and they don't get comp time for weekends worked. That would suck major for me, but my portfolio is pretty much an 8 hr day, M-F job. Perks specific to our agency: 5 days of subsidized back up childcare, hospital grade pumps in the lactation room, subsidized (though not free) 3rd trimester parking, generally telework friendly depending on your portfolio, a ton of training opportunities - you really can develop your knowledge and skillset here. Internal rotations/assignments overseas are relatively common, so people get to do developmental assignments for 1-6 months. Also, tons of moms in high ranking positions, so the general culture towards work-life issues is more understanding than others.

Commerce is a bit more depressing in that most people don't really feel a sense of purpose in their work and that shows but if it's just a job to you, Commerce is an easy place for coasting by - you can advance while just doing the minimum and showing up on time. The upsides are that HR is actually pretty decent here - better than others for sure - so your stuff gets processed timely, it's easy to get some one to talk to in person about how to navigate a certain process, etc; on-site daycare, CommerceKids, isn't as expensive as other centers that are just a block or two away; flexible work schedules are common (compressed, early hours, late hours, regular telework, job share, part time, etc). No parking, building itself is pretty gross. Overall, I'd recommend it for some one with a lot going on personally who needs a job they can just dial in to each day without getting too invested.

EPA has a lot of passionate people as well. They are dispersed across a few different buildings in DC though, so they're not in a position to offer agency-specific things like other big agencies that occupy an entire building. For example, I don't think they have an EPA-specific childcare facility but if you're in the Reagan building, you can get priority at Triangle Tots along with the other agencies in the building and they seem to subsidize the gym membership in Reagan too, but I don't know what the employees in other buildings get.

HUD has a mix of people passionate about their work and others less so. It's such a huge, mega bureaucracy that HR and getting any internal process done can be an absolute nightmare, but I have met people happy to work there and finding a promotion in house seems easier so you don't have to agency hop just to get to the next GS level. [/quote]

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