US Department of Veterans Affairs Reviews

Pros

Job Security is expected as with all government systems

Cons

overtime restricted the hospital is trying to save money

Pros

Salary, opportunities for growth, safety for the job.

Cons

Beureauacracy. Hands down. You can work your tail of and be as effective as you can, but then someone who want a turf fight will push back and get in your way.

Advice to Senior Management

Cut the beureauacracy and if you want to get something done, mandate and implement real penalties if not done.

Pros

I am proud of the work done by front line staff. VA has a noble mission with many committed professional care providers.

Cons

Politically appointed leaders to not always serve the best interests of the veterans or career VA employees. It is difficult to get career employees from the field to serve in VA Central Office leadership position, therefore, policy decisions are often made for political expediency, regardless of the negative effects those decision have on field operations.

Advice to Senior Management

When appointed leadership has come from the ranks of "veteran advocates" in Veterans Service Organizations, the VA thrives. When appointed leadership comes direct from military leadership positions, political expediency seems to drive all decision-making, the detriment of veteran healthcare. Service academy graduates may make good, loyal soldiers and sailors, but they do not make veteran advocates or quality VA leaders.

Pros

Great Benefits
Great Environment
Flexible work schedule

Cons

Low compensation
Complicated security
Fairly old facility

Pros

Being employed under The Veteran Affairs Medical Health Care System brought joy and happiness to myself everyday that I would attend work. The staff at this facility were warm-hearted and magnanimous when it came to first time encounters and vice versa. Also, the management at this hospital is very kind and accessible in that, when in need of some type of assistance or etc. they are there to assist. When it comes to safety, the VA comes well equipped, as should be, to ensure that everyone in the building stays unharmed. Did I mention that you get free lunch provided at no cost to you.

Cons

- You couldn't leave the facility for lunch
- If you didn't like a sector that you were working in, you would have to stay in that same sector for 3 weeks before a change could be made.

Advice to Senior Management

I really can't say what needs to improve within the VA, but I can say that keeping up the current working abilites and maybe even making benficial amends can and will always make for the better.

Pros

Stable work environment, government employment, work-life balance, exceptional pay & benefits, salary growth, the mission.

Cons

Bureacratic, inefficiency, pockets of low performing government employees with a lack of focus on the mission or results and a fixation on inept processes, automatic pay increases, robust union presence,

Advice to Senior Management

Tie income to performance, allow more telework and flexible work schedules, adopt a "results oriented work environment," improve suggestion program, utilize performance metrics in more non-clinical professions, increase systesm redesign efforts,

Pros

Job Security
The core mission is a wonderful! To server those who served our country.
Work Live balance is terrific
Low Stress - this might not be the case in all positions

Cons

Extremely bureaucratic
Complete Lack of leadership in Senior Management
Career development is almost non-existent
Employee Policies are not clear and applied different amongst a single organization
Execution of tasks due to the bureaucracy and size of the org is difficult.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior Management needs to do a better job of understanding how tasks are actually getting accomplished and gain input from those doing the work prior to attempting changes.
Senior Managements needs to learn to identify and develop leadership talent.

Pros

The pay is better for a social worker than practically anywhere else. You can make 46,000 as a case manager, compared to 24,000-30,000 in most not-for profits. Have your license for the independent practice level and you jump to 60,000 depending on location.
You get paid time off, like 2 days a month.

Cons

It is the government, so it is painfully long to get anything done. The computer systems are very outdated, such as systems do not populate fields for you and makes paperwork painfully long, systems also do not communicate with each other so you have to enter treatment plans over and over again. The paper work is more than your average agency. Bureaucracy to the tenth degree. Management knows who they are going to hire and who they are going to promote and it rarely has anything to do with performance. Case loads can be a bit ridiculous and there seems to be a culture that pushing paperwork around and making it look like you are working is more highly valued than actually working with patients. It is very competitive and a bit incestuous, many people are married to other employees and have children working in the agency and other relatives.

Strange military culture at the hospital. People use military slang all the time, everything is done in military time, and jobs are referred to in military jargon such as your work schedule is your tour of duty and the department you work is is your branch of service. Its like doing a role play all the time if you do not have a military background.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't post jobs and hold fake interviews if you have already placed people in these positions. Reward people for their good work. Management makes a lot, and I mean a lot, of promises with little follow through.

Pros

Able to move into new positions. Always challenging.

Cons

Too much money spent on "contracts" when work could be done less expensively and efficiently inhouse.

Pros

Good salary and benefits. Quick and substantial raises.

Cons

Negative work environment, everyone is always complaining. Management doesn't listen to any concerns about workload, they turn away ideas to improve systems, they are constantly sending mixed messages about priorities and they ignore significant safety concerns and never address employees directly or candidly. The work is boring and repetitive. Proper practice is constantly shifting back and forth with no rhyme or reason.

Advice to Senior Management

Address and actually listen to your employees. Stop taking on more work wen they are already stressed.