Pros

Awesome benefits, job security in many positions, and you can easily anticipate career growth if you're not planning any big positions changes.

Cons

Politics, politics, politics! Typical government structure where after a person makes it through their 6 month probationary period they will quite likely NEVER be let go for being incompetent. The mid-level management are clueless and operate behind a curtain of secrecy when making decisions that impact the people they directly supervise. Also, because it is government, they can't offer perks to certain qualified & high-quality employees to keep them on board. There is a very structured system for advancing, which is a benefit to many people who don't actually come to work to WORK.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't promote people as supervisors, program mangers, etc. just because they've put in the time. Some actual people skills are necessary in order to manage other people. Also, a culture of accountability might help with making people actually do some work when they are sitting at their desk. This means accountability from mangers too. Involving employees in decision-making instead of handing decisions down from the top might even help the morale & increase productivity.