US Department of Defense Reviews

Pros

Steady Employment with Job Satisfaction working with highly motivated personal to provide safe aircraft for Search and Rescue missions in relatively unfriendly mountainous enviornment.

Cons

Military Structure has too much micromanagement built in. Not designed for a person with years of experience that can be trusted to preform at a high professional level.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow the maintenance personal (civilians) to preform their jobs in a professional manner by not treating them as they are journeymen mechanics. All employed at SAR Whidbey Island have 20+ yrs experience and are highly professional individuals.

Pros

Earn good time off benefits and a retirement

Cons

No flexibilty for change. Slow to get things changed.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to those who actually do the everyday work

Pros

Morale is high; People are friendly; government benefits

Cons

still in growth stages of procress

Advice to Senior Management

na

Pros

work/life balance is good
challenging problems that make an impact
chance to give back to your country
good salary and benefits

Cons

difficult to purchase new computers/software
too many layers to everything- too many people and organizations to deal with
mind numbing meetings
terrible traffic

Advice to Senior Management

please encourage telework. federal employees work hard. they travel and hour plus each way through terrible traffic just to get to work. once you add in the 8/9 hour workday it can make for a 12 hour day. please encourage people to work from home.

Pros

Job security, federal worker benefits, work-life balance, etc. are all good. Also, if you are able to look at the bigger picture, you can be proud that your work, even as a civilian, is in someway supporting the troops.

I have been lucky to have worked under two very competent supervisors who worked hard to foster my career development and were great about giving feedback.

Cons

However, it is not very easy to see the big picture. So much RED TAPE that work moves slowly and is constantly being unnecessarily rechecked. Huge disconnect between various field offices and headquarters' of different commands within DoD. Every command uses different systems and practices which makes collaboration close to impossible.

Even though my experience with coworkers and supervisors has been positive, I know many other DoD employees who have not been as lucky. Many employees are resistant to change. Lots of headbutting between civilian and military leadership. Military leaders do not understand there are different rules for civilians and they raise hell when they don't get their way.

Advice to Senior Management

Improve relationship between civilian and military leaders. Overhaul performance management system to hold supervisors accountable for providing feedback. I would say "less bureaucracy" but it's the government, that's never going to happen.

Pros

Job security and challenging work.

Cons

Not enough money in the budget for preferred training.

Advice to Senior Management

Allocate more funds for training.

Pros

Career advancement, opportunities to return to school, promotions, wonderful benefits, travel

Cons

You may have a supervisor who doesn't like employees to be out of the office for military duty, school/career enhancements, or does not award employees for good performances. I'm not saying that you should be awarded for doing your job, but it would be good for moral.

Advice to Senior Management

Sometimes managment may choose Team Leaders within certain sections. This should be reviewed biannually. Check for progress per team. See if some things should be changed or rearranged. Also, offer cash awards sometimes. There are funds available for this to be budgeted. Use it on your exceptionaly employees. Allow your employees to attend classes for career or work/job enhancement. It will be rewarding for the team in the long run.

Pros

Good healthcare and retirement benefits.
Stable job security for loyal employees.
Excellent opportunity to support the military as they defend our country.

Cons

Constant change of leadership since military staff have short-term assignments (usually 3-4 years in each command). It can be daunting to constantly switch to the next leader's vision.
Limited opportunities for advancement so salary growth is generally slow. (However, stable income does have its plusses, especially in the current employment environment.)
The hiring process is extremely tedious and slow!

Advice to Senior Management

Make it a point to know your employees; they will reward you in return.

Pros

Good pay, housing allowance, travel, cost of living adjustment if overseas, adventure, opportunities for advancement and education, the honor of having served your country, comaraderie, veterans hiring preference, the GI Bill, retirement pension if you can make it to 20 years.

Cons

Cutbacks, technology, over-emphasis on automation, and the economy are adding pressures to the workloads and job environment. There are a lot fewer people left as a result of the cutbacks and money saving initiatives and despite the emphasis on quality of life programs, the mission will always come first in some front line specialties. Often those who rise through the ranks are ones who can burden themselves with the most work and put in the longest hours and that can become the standard for others to live up to. Frequent moves, long hours, family separation can take their toll.

Advice to Senior Management

Control spending and be cognizant of over-reliance on contractors and technology.

Pros

Continuation of career from military service
good benefits
good job security
lots of growth opportunity--both upward and lateral

Cons

Three words...Two year pay freeze. The hardest thing about working for DoD is that, while everyone in the civilian sector is making more money, we in Federal Civil Service are making less. There is a two year pay freeze in effect, while our health insurance and retirement benefits keep going up. I think it is the goal of congres to make Civil Service go from being a great place to work to being one of the worst places to work. Now there is talk of extending the pay freeze to three or even five years. This would be the only possible cause of me seeking work else where.

Advice to Senior Management

If congress wants to save money, that's great. But if they want civil service to be an organization of talented, professional employees, they should consider the consequences of lowering compensation for said employees.