Port Authority of NY & NJ – “Reasonable work environment; ossified bureaucracy slows things down; politics trumps rational decision making”

Pros

There is a lot of pride in the Port Authority's history of building and operating big parts of the New York region's most vital infrastructure. Work hours are predictable and the benefit package is excellent. Most people here are good to work with and the level of stress is pretty low.

Cons

The bureaucracy is so paralyzed and so cramped by state politics that getting raises or promotions is extremely difficult if not impossible. These also slow down projects and make it hard to get anything done. Management is extremely hierarchical -- forget about walking into to the office of someone two or three levels above you. Senior management and political appointees can be quite arrogant in dealing with underlings.

Certainly a frustrating fact of life is that state politics can trump rational decision making at the agency. Former Governor Pataki's decision to fund an extravagant new World Trade Center on the backs of commuters is a prime example. In general, thoughtful planning is frequently negated by political expediency, and planning for the region is essentially dead.

Advice to Senior Management

The place needs some new blood, a focus on building up staff capabilities. We lost a lot of talent and experience with early retirement programs. Over the years, the agency has also outsourced much of its planning and engineering capabilities, so there is no long term vision or ability to develop a long term vision, little ability to innovate. New blood could also bring in modern management practices (e.g., open door policies and a flatter hierarchy).

The agency also needs to repair its public image. It needs to become much more transparent, acting as the public's agent instead of instinctively hiding information. When the media raises issues, such as ridiculous overtime payments to police officers, it needs to forcefully and honestly address the issues instead of skating by them.