IRS Reviews

Pros

Unlimited overtime when they are trying to make deadlines. This position allows you to work without interruption in your own little world if you like.

Cons

Your always on the clock with someone watching to see if you are coming back to your seat after your break time.

Advice to Senior Management

Do not be so strict about the time clock. most people in this position will stay until they finish a load anyway.

Pros

Stable schedule. You know what your hours are. You know what you're getting paid, there is no guess work, and you know when you get raises.

Cons

It can become repetitive after awhile.

Advice to Senior Management

I wish there was a quicker response time to employee made requests. For example, changes in your schedule or certain disputes can take a while to get resolved.

Pros

You will receive a lot of training, you are not expected to work beyond your 40 hours, if you do a good job you will recieve good performance reviews and food feedback from your manager

Cons

Low pay, inability to "step out of the box" because you must stick to the script when dealing with taxpayers and they make sure you do by recording your every word and then basing your performance reviews on this

Pros

Work/life balance is the best you can get (but see the flip-side to this coin below).
Job security is the best you can get..
The training is good (big $ spent on that) and if you apply yourself you can quickly become an expert in both tax and audit.
Interesting work (if you pick a good city, you will get to work with a variety of different industries).

Cons

It's a 40-hour/week job. Period. And you will get paid the same as everyone else at your grade, regardless of individual accomplishment. No opportunity to earn more and promotion within the grade/step system is based on seniority.
Performance is graded by ability to follow the IRM, not by results ($), which is frustrating for those who are results-oriented, but admittedly, I can't think of a better alternative.
Requires a high-tolerance for mindless paperwork, most of it merely for evaluative purposes (e.g., check sheets to "prove" to the case reviewers that you followed the required steps in the audit).

Advice to Senior Management

Overall I think they are doing a good job, but work to eliminate excessive paperwork and job satisfaction will increase.

Pros

You will rarely feel pressured to work long hours, and the managers are supportive of employees. While you may start at a low salary, it increases regularly and substantially depending on the position.

Cons

Slow to change, and not a great deal of room to advance to a leadership position.

Pros

Collaborative decision making, extremely broad range of issues to research and gain expertise on (you won't get assigned to working foreign tax credit issues for a year, like happens at Big 4), fairly flat work organization. I disagree with many other posters that pay raises are based on seniority alone - I have had several merit increases and get other bonuses in years when I am prevented from receiving a merit (permanent) salary increase.

Cons

Aging workforce and management. Incredibly techno-phobic workplace. The IRS solution to Information Tech is to block it, prevent it, ignore it, all while saying they need to do this to maintain taxpayer confidence. This issue comes up regularly at mtgs with taxpayers, who shake their head in amazement at how backward the IRS systems are.

Advice to Senior Management

Get real about IT. Hire outside vendors and let them propose to upper management what the possible solutions are, then work top down to make sure it happens. Give your employees the analytical, research and IT tools to do their jobs, so that they can compete better with sophisticated taxpayers.

Pros

Benefit package is good and work is so easy a trained monkey could do it

Cons

I was told not to think by a trainer, the computer is the one that thinks!

Advice to Senior Management

They need to stop promoting people based on time in grade instead of skills.

Pros

Great benefits, great co-workers, great building (located right next to metro, nice cafeteria, great fitness center, and decent outdoor space).

Cons

Only interested in boosting completion of task numbers, and once you meet a goal they keep increasing, to the point where you are so beat from working, the stress is not worth the job security.

Advice to Senior Management

A results-only work method leaves the employees tired, frustrated, and unmotivated to help reach goals.

Pros

great benefits...room for growth..extensive training

Cons

hiring freeze at the moment...gov't budgets issues are having a tremendous affect on advancement opportunities.

Advice to Senior Management

lift the hiring freeze! lol.

Pros

Variety of work locations, public service, thrift savings plan for retirement, flexiplace, and opportunities for field work and travel

Cons

Uncertainty of congressional priorities and vulnerability to political change

Advice to Senior Management

Spend more to improve software / hardware / automation